Strangeness and Charm
by LelliieTheSnake
Summary: One day when feeling upset I went looking for a really indulgent Loki/human fic. But I couldn't find one that felt right, so I wrote one. Though this began as crack and know it has it's faults I have grown to love it and I hope someone can enjoy it as much as I have. Written before I saw Thor 2/had any idea what was coming, so it's set kind of parallel to Thor 2.
1. Twenty One

"Thank you, for letting me stay here." Vivienne said shyly; not quite able to make eye contact with the Queen. Even so, she felt the sympathetic smile coming from her left. It was a smile that she'd grown used to over the past few weeks.

"It's not fair that you were taken away from your home so cruelly. It is our fault, or rather my son's, that you ended up here on Asgard. Providing you with somewhere to live comfortably is the least we can do." They reached the end of the corridor and turned to overlook the gardens. Vivienne's breath caught, though most of the flowers looked decidedly exotic the layout reminded her of her parent's carefully planned out garden at home, and once again she felt a painful pang in her stomach. She was used to them now, little reminders that she would never see home again. It seemed they were everywhere.

"Can I ask you why none of the other lodgings I chose took your fancy?" The Queen asked lightly, breaking her trail of thoughts. The question didn't sound threatening, it was kind and curious.

Vivienne sighed. "It wasn't the homes so much. In terms of the rooms themselves I'd feel more at home staying with an ordinary family than in a palace. It's more the way they looked at me, like they wanted to keep me as a pet." She shivered slightly, failing to hide her discomfort.

"You'll have to be patient with the attitudes of those in Asgard. Many of them have not seen a Midgardian for almost two-thousand years; it is only my sons and their friends who have made any recent trips to your world, seen your advancements. It is three weeks since you have been here and I still find myself underestimating you and your abilities on an almost daily basis."

"That's me, always surprising." She joked, and Frigga didn't miss the bitterness in her voice. The Queen bit back her sadness and gestured for them to head back into the palace, towards the rooms that Vivienne had been staying in since arriving.

Vivienne followed silently, deep in thought. For what seemed like the thousandth time she replayed the conversation in her head that had occurred two weeks earlier.

"_What do you mean I can't go back?" She screamed angrily, screwing the bed sheets into balls in her hands. "You zapped me here, zap me home again!"_

"_The magic it took to transport you here took a toll on your body. You were unconscious for five days before we could revive you. Your body does not have the strength to be transported again." The Queen explained patiently to the blotchy, tear-strewn face in front of her._

"_Well then I wait a few weeks and heal and then go back!" She insisted. The Queen simply shook her head._

"_Magic affects the body differently to a traditional physical wound, especially a Midgardian body. It will not leave your system. You would have to become a god before you had the strength to go back." She moved to sit on the edge of the bed next to Vivienne, putting one gentle hand on her shoulder. She took it as a positive sign that it wasn't shrugged off._

_After a moment Vivienne's expression changed suddenly and she looked at the Queen intently. "That's an option? I could become one of you?" She demanded. Frigga sighed; only her immediate family usually dared speak to her in such angry tones, yet again the young girl surprised her with her boldness and the weight of her emotions._

"_You could do, and then go back yes. But I strongly advise against it. It will take the equivalent of five or six Midgardian years to get you to enough strength, and by then you will no longer be of Midgard, you will be stronger, faster and longer lived. If you return you will doubtlessly be tested by the authorities of your planet, unable to live a normal life, and you will physically outlive all of your loved ones. It is a cursed fate to live, and not one I will allow." She looked down on the heartbroken face in front of her, and said truthfully "I am sorry."_

As they arrived back at the door to Vivienne's rooms Frigga clapped her hands and stood straight, looking powerful and confident as always in her elegant pale robes. "Well, if you are going to be living here on a more permanent basis we will have you moved to a more private section of the palace, rather than in the guest rooms. If it is our family you are staying with I will move you into our wing."

Panic flashed across Vivienne's face. "Oh no, I don't want to intrude-"

"Nonsense child", the Queen cut back in. "You have said it is us you feel the most comfortable around and therefore we will keep you close." Her voice softened. "I feel it is my responsibility to look after you here."

"I don't want to be a burden, honestly. I'll just keep to myself for the most part." Vivienne insisted. When she first realised she was here to stay, there had been part of her that had demanded compensation of some sort for being stranded. But that had since receded, and now she felt terribly exposed being made so publicly part of the most important family in this bizarre and magical land of gods. The more she thought about it the more of a burden it seemed to her for the Queen to carry. Vivienne also didn't want to draw any more attention to herself; she felt somewhat like a circus attraction already.

"And then you'll die of boredom child. Do not worry about the amount of time I have spent with you, I am able to balance my duties around this. If it really worries you I shall get my sons to show you around, Thor loves the chance to explain our heritage." She moved to walk down another corridor of golden arches towards a part of the palace Vivienne had not been before, presumably to the royal living quarters. They walked in silence again.

The silence held for a few minutes, and then Vivienne couldn't help but question Frigga's phrasing. "You keep saying 'sons', yet I've only seen Thor." She stated softly.

Frigga sighed and took a breath. She paused and then started to speak slowly. "You remember the attack on your world a couple of Midgardian years ago?" she asked.

"Yes. Wasn't Thor fighting for us?" Vivienne asked, trying to recall what the news bulletins had said about the attack over on New York just over two years previously.

"Yes, he was. However," she paused, "my other son, Loki, was fighting against your world. He was the one leading the invasion." Vivienne blinked, trying to absorb the information. She looked at Frigga with a frown. When Vivienne only looked at her silently, Frigga continued. "He has spent a long time repaying for his actions here. He is currently away alone for the first time since the attack on your world. It is only a light diplomatic mission to the Elves, and we expect his return in a few days. For the most part he is still confined to this city, and is constantly complaining of boredom."

"So you're hoping showing me round will give him something to do." Vivienne finished for her, still not really feeling any reaction. Part of her wondered why she wasn't worried about being shown the sights by a mass-murderer, but a larger part of her didn't think she was able to be surprised anymore, after the amount of new culture she had been exposed to recently. She still voiced her concern though:

"Surely if he tried to conquer my planet he won't be too pleased with me being human and all." She said.

"He will not harm you, he cannot fatally harm anyone without the rules of his confinement breaking. If anything he will simply treat you with contempt, as if you are not worth his time. But be patient, you have surprised me vast amounts and I am sure you will be able to surprise him too. Maybe this is what he needs." She smiled wistfully as they approached a set of double doors, which guards opened to let them through. The halls inside here were of a different style, a softer colour with more creams.

"These are our family rooms. Odin and I reside in the hall off to the right, that is where you will find me if you should ever need me. Thor's rooms are in down that corridor ahead and to the right, and I recommend you go and visit him often, he loves guests." She started down the corridor to the left. "Down here the corridor branches in two directions. Loki resides on the left side, as far from the rest of us as possible. There are a spare set of modest rooms down the right corridor in which I feel you will be more at home."

They followed the corridor down to the split and Vivienne looked down the left side of the corridor out of curiosity, however it twisted round before anything was visible. They continued round to the right until they reached a large door, made of a light wood with ornate carvings of nature and birds. Vivienne smiled at the intricate design before opening the door and stepping inside.

Frigga stood in the entrance hall whilst Vivienne looked around. Off a central hallway were two curtained archways. Through the first and largest led to a large living area, with two ornate Asgardian sofas in front of a fireplace with a coffee table of sorts, intricately carved from the same light wood as that of the front door with similar bird and nature related carvings. Vivienne wondered if they had coffee here, it was something she'd have to investigate. The room was various shades of wood, everything panelled and obviously expensive. Over on the left wall was a large archway leading out onto a small balcony with two seats. Vivienne paused at the idiocy of having a fire in a room with an open wall and sighed, concluding that it must just be another magic thing, before moving to open another door at the back of the living room. It had taken a while for her to adjust to being surrounded by things that Earth physics couldn't explain, everything from the architecture to the food she had been eating seemed abnormal.

Through the door at the back of the room was a moderately sized bedroom, not quite as grand as many other Asgardian rooms she'd seen but still with very large bed dominating it. It was the first item of furniture in her new rooms that didn't appear to be made mostly of wood, the frame was a light metal with intricate railings twisting and twining to meet each other across the headboard above the silky blue bedspread. Aside from that there was a series of what Vivienne presumed were wardrobe doors set into the left wall and a dressing table with mirror and stool to the right wall. Also on the right side of the room was another door. Moving through it Vivienne gasped at a white marble bathroom containing what might possibly be the biggest bathtub she'd ever seen, set down into the middle of the floor. She was certain she'd be able to stand in it and have the water reach her chest. After admiring the room for a few minutes she moved back out into the entrance hall to see Frigga and take a look behind the other curtain in the entrance hall.

The sight that greeted her there made her smile even more. It was a relatively small square room with a desk in the centre (that and the chair behind it covered in the same theme of carvings as the rest of the rooms), and the three walls without the door were covered by floor to ceiling book shelves. Most of them were empty, just with a couple of rows of volumes behind the desk. Frigga appeared behind her and said "This is yours as well. I think it is important everyone has a place to work alone."

"It's wonderful, thank you." Vivienne said truthfully, eyes drinking in all the details in wonder.

Frigga smiled back. "I still think it feels rather impersonal at the moment, I'll have the furnishings updated as soon as possible. We'll consult with you ideas for the designs. What colours do you like?"

Vivienne grinned at her, excitement flaring up. "Oh do I get to help redesign the room?" She asked, relieved at the thought of a project she could comfortably work on rather than the superhuman games and puzzles they'd tried to entertain her with in the past few weeks, which the Aesir deemed child's play and she struggled helplessly with

"If you'd like." Frigga stated, her heart warming at having found something that peaked the girl's interest.

"Oh thank you. Decorating is one thing I loved doing back home."

"So what colours would you prefer, for the most part?" Frigga asked again, feeling more confident than she had before that she'd be able to make Vivienne feel comfortable here. Maybe even one day she could make up for what the girl had been put through.

"Well the woods in here are quite warm, fire-y colours might be a bit overwhelming. I think greens for the most part, with some blues as well." She said, eyes passionately roaming around the hallway.

Frigga smiled at her. "You like greens?"

"I love them, it's such a complicated colour. It's like, new life and stuff but it's also the symbol of sickness. It always gets to me when green is depicted as evil. I won't try and explain Harry Potter to you now but let me just say, greens can be so rich and beautiful." She babbled, fingers running over the currently brown fabric of the curtains.

The Queen smiled. "I take it back – I think you and my younger son will get along just fine."


	2. Twenty Four

Three days after choosing her rooms Vivienne was invited to come down to a party, and from what she could gather it was quite an impressive offer. The Asgardians that had been helping her with her room and some others she'd been talking to admitted they dreamed of getting an invite to a party of that status. To Vivienne Thor had just asked that she come to a little get together and meet a few of his friends in another of his many attempts to apologise for accidentally bringing her here.

Vivienne had been incredibly nervous about being invited to this party. Socialising wasn't her forte back in England, let alone here on Asgard. Now that she was deemed as semi-settled the palace had started treating her as an official resident, giving her full access to all of the private dinners and parties. It was more than just a little overwhelming and Frigga had had to talk her into attending. Eventually it was the promise that she could leave if things got too overwhelming that persuaded Vivienne to go. It didn't hurt that Frigga had promised to get her a new, suitably elegant dress made for the occasion too. Since arriving on Asgard she had been living mostly in ill-fitting plain dresses provided by donations, unable to wear the torn and charred jeans and t-shirt that she had been wearing when she arrived, and this new dress had been the first item of her promised fitted wardrobe. Even so, walking in Vivienne was incredibly conscious of tripping on the long, purple material, and felt quite exposed with bare arms and quite a low neckline. She shivered as she moved into the entertaining room, walking through the door cautiously.

The large room held an oval, burnished bronze table surrounded by equally elegant seats. The table was empty for the most part with various guests mingling stood around the room. Thor saw her come through the door and beckoned Vivienne over with a smile. She walked over and was enthusiastically introduced to name after name, getting incredibly lost and confused after only the first few, though she tried her best to dutifully remember names and faces. Eventually Thor stopped leading her round and invited her to sit in the corner in the company of a beautifully elegant young Asgardian woman; with long black hair twisting past her shoulder and down her back, complimenting the dark material of her blue dress. Thor introduced them and Vivienne immediately recognised the name from talk of those she'd interacted with since arriving. From what she knew of Sif Vivienne admired her, hearing many stories of how stubborn and completely outrageous she could be when it suited her. She smiled and said hello to the goddess.

Conversation was awkward at first, but Sif was patient and after a while when she and Vivienne were talking more easily Thor left to go and play host. Sif asked her the usual questions about how she was settling in and how she found Asgard, and was actually able to provide some intelligent conversation about Earth, having gone down to find Thor a few years beforehand she had seen how advanced the human race was becoming. After talking for a while Vivienne really enjoyed speaking to someone who didn't underestimate her intelligence or capacity to adapt. They were still talking enthusiastically when Thor arrived back with a small group of others whom Sif and Vivienne stood to greet.

"Vivienne, I'd like to introduce Fandral and Volstagg here, these two are two of the famous warriors three. Hogun is not feeling so well tonight, he sends his apologies." Thor introduced. Volstagg said a jolly hello and shook her hand, giving her a beaming smile. Fandral winked one blue eye at her and raised her hand, kissing the back of it with a smile that was much more sly. Vivienne found herself blushing slightly, but found amusement in Sif openly rolling her eyes at Fandral's actions. Everyone on Asgard was incredibly attractive; there were very few people here who Vivienne wouldn't have stopped to stare at if they'd walked into the room on Earth. It had been very unnerving at first but she managed to persuade herself to take it as one of the perks to living here.

They started asking the usual questions about how she was settling in, and after a minute or two another few Asgardians came up and joined them, merging in to the huddle now stood round Vivienne who started to feel slightly closed in. Across and to Vivienne's left was Frigga, who smiled at her and gestured to the figure now stood directly opposite her. "Vivienne I'd like the pleasure of introducing my other son, Loki."

Vivienne looked across at the god stood opposite her, wondering what the other son of the King was like. Loki certainly did not look like his brother. He was dressed in dark leather with green accents, looking far less relaxed than the other men in the room who were all dressed for the party. He looked ready to run into battle. His black hair was slicked back and reached down to his shoulders, contrasting with the smooth pale skin. He was striking to look at, certainly different from the look most of the rest of the young men seemed to be aiming for (that of Thor) and Vivienne's eyes were pretty quickly drawn up to his vivid green ones. He was looking down at her with a smile on his face, but she had a feeling it was insincere as it did not quite reach his eyes.

"Charmed." He said, reaching out his hand to take hers. He kissed the back of it just as Fandral did, but there was something far less flirty and far more sinister about this kiss, the way he moved seemed unnatural and unnerved her slightly, there was something slightly ethereal about his appearance and movements. Though his intentions seemed pleasant enough there was something about him that gave Vivienne the distinct impression that he did not care about or like her, and she wondered why Frigga had been so insistent that they'd get along. She blushed again, this time both from a combination of being flustered at his striking appearance and embarrassed that she was made to feel unworthy of his presence just by one look. She stood up a little straighter, determined to try and make a good impression despite her unease.

"Hello Loki, I've heard lots about you." She said with the best smile she could muster. Instead of warming him to her as she'd hoped a dark look flashed across his face before his fake smile returned.

"Well I wonder what they've all been telling you?" He asked, directing meaningful looks at those around, especially Sif and Fandral, who to Vivienne's confusion avoided his gaze. Vivienne was determined not to accidentally say something wrong, and tried to cheer things up again by changing the subject.

"So where have you been? Frigga mentioned something about the Elves?" she tried asking, glancing across at Frigga who gave her a small supportive nod.

"Oh you don't want to know about Loki's magical missions, he'll bore you with politics!" Sif laughed lightly. Loki shot her another sour look, irritated at being mocked even if only to a Midgardian.

The words however had the opposite effect to that Sif had intended. Vivienne's eyes shot back to Loki with interest. "Wait, magic?" she asked.

Loki was genuinely surprised by the Midgardian girl's interest, he knew that she'd been here for a few weeks already. "Yes, I have been studying magical law for hundreds of years," he answered straight away, but couldn't resist adding, "I always forget you do not have those advanced enough to study magic on Midgard."

Vivienne heard the obvious disdain and felt like she was being challenged. Frigga winced slightly at the implied insult and the others now all shot Loki sharp looks of disapproval. Frigga stepped forwards and looked between Vivienne and her son. "Well she seems very interested to find out more. I'm sure you wouldn't mind teaching her about it now would you? You always do love it when people are interested in your talents." She said sweetly. Loki understood now that Frigga had planned this, keeping the human sheltered from magic so he would have to teach her. He smiled his fake smile again and said "Of course" but gave the air of the kid who'd been paired with the person they hated most for a class project. A small part of Vivienne felt good at being able to shove the disdain back in his face.

"I would love that, thank you." She smiled, and it wasn't a lie. Many things about Asgard were magical but she hadn't yet seen someone work with magic directly. It seemed to be more woven into the fabric of things but so far not openly displayed. Loki looked down at her and said "My pleasure" before twisting his hand so a flame appeared in it. Vivienne tried to stay cool about it but couldn't help the flash of wonder that crossed her face as the Asgardians stood round seemed completely unimpressed by Loki's display. She felt like a small child being entertained by something shiny and was immediately self-conscious of the fact the Asgardians seemed to watch her like she would watch a cat chase a laser pen. It was uncomfortable and she was feeling increasingly closed-in. Vivienne decided she'd had enough; she gathered herself up and put the best smile she could muster on her face.

"I know I haven't been here long but if you'd please excuse me I think I'm going to go to bed." She said lightly, hoping not to be judged too harshly as Frigga had openly said she could leave when she wanted.

"I'll walk you to your room." Loki said, the expression on his face changing completely. He now seemed to show genuine interest in her; but again she found something unnerving about it.

"Oh I'm fine," Vivienne tried to insist, "Thank you bu-"

"Nonsense," Loki replied, taking her arm, "I'd be glad to show our new guest back to her rooms."

Vivienne looked back up at the other Asgardians who for the most part also looked uneasy at the thought of Loki alone with her. The only person who seemed to smile genuinely was Frigga, who smiled and bid Vivienne goodnight.

"I'll visit you in the morning", she said, "Sleep well."

Vivienne said goodnight in return and Loki led her out of the room. She didn't really know what to do and just allowed herself to be led along. Once they were out into the corridor he dropped her arm and turned to look at her as they walked.

"So you're the one everyone is talking about." He said lightly. Vivienne honestly had no idea how to reply or where this conversation was supposed to be going, but she felt like she was missing some sort of double meaning. It put her on edge.

"I guess I am." She replied. "Come to take a look like everyone else?" She shot back at him as sharply as she could. If he was going to look at her like an interesting toy then goddamn would she fight back.

Loki seemed genuinely pleased with her response. "Well speak your mind darling, don't hold anything back." He said sarcastically, raising one perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her.

"I don't usually." She replied truthfully. She didn't know if she was trying to one-up him or prove she was not an idiot, either way, she felt compelled to stand her ground.

"Well in that case, tell me this," the smile on his face was wicked. "What are your honest first opinions of me?"

She felt the challenge but couldn't read the intentions behind his face, but damn if she was going to let this challenge pass.

"I think you're different-" She started, but before she could continue he laughed again, a high and honest laugh that had a slightly manic tinge to it. It showed an honesty that had been completely absent back in the hall.

"That's the most diplomatic answer you could have used. Come on, be a little more inventive."

She bristled and started again. "Okay. I don't like how you treat me. I've just met you but you don't appear to like me or see me as worth anything. You're doing what I hate about most people here, which is to treat me like a pet, like I'm not worth your time or attention. I'm not a toy for people to play with goddamnit! And the fact is you seemed to act a little like that with everyone else in that hall as well, like no one is worth your time."

It was only when she finished that Vivienne realised just how harsh and rambling that had been, but Loki looked distinctly impressed with her, as if she'd passed some sort of test.

"That's more like it." He said, a note of triumph in his voice. "Apart from my mother everyone here seems to see you as some poor lost child. I'm glad that you have some fight."

"And why would you care if I have any fight?" she challenged.

The look he gave her before he answered was clear and chilling and when he spoke there was no trace of sarcasm in his voice. "Because it's always more fun to watch people go down screaming."

Vivienne felt the alarm bells ring in her head at his answer but she tried again to keep a brave face, because no way was she giving into this bastard now. "You honestly think I'm going to have some sort of dramatic downfall?" she asked plainly.

"Honestly? Yes. I think you'll commit suicide before the year is out." She continued to look at him with an outraged expression and he continued as if she was missing simple facts. "You are human, and therefore you are weak and prone to being melodramatic."

Vivienne's anger flared up, though a part of her did find it strangely refreshing to be challenged and not treated like a baby. "Says the guy who tried to take over the world in a horned helmet." She shot back. Again she spoke without thinking and he actually stopped walking and rounded to look at her, causing her to stop mid-corridor too.

"You know who I am and you still agreed to walk back with me?" he asked disbelieving, eyes narrowing as he moved closer to her. Vivienne took a step back and tried to come up with a witty response.

"Your mother assures me you've reformed." She said, moving further away. Again his eyes narrowed slightly and her back hit the wall. He stepped to move over her, leaning in close. Her slim figure was blocked by his tall frame and she could almost smell his strength along with the leather; his hair ticked her face as he whispered in her ear.

"_And what makes you so sure of that?_"

He backed away and looked down at her, and as he expected her brave act had fallen away and the fear was clear in Vivienne's eyes. He took a moment to drink in the scared sight before him, grinning, before Vivienne pulled herself together. Her hands were shaking slightly as she brought them up and clasped them together, stepping away from the wall.

"Well I'll have to just trust her, won't I?" she tried answering, her voice shaking slightly. They both knew it was an awful come back to what he'd said and Loki looked very smug as he stood straight again, turning to finish walking to their rooms. They walked in silence for a while, Loki looking as if he was having lots of fun and Vivienne thinking, breathing deeply as she waited for her heart rate to calm, determined not to run like a scared rabbit. She was deeply unnerved but still felt like this was some sort of challenge she had to pass.

After a couple of minutes she tried to start conversation again. "So… about the magic. You're the only person I've seen here who uses it directly, rather than just channelling the essence of it or whatever you want to call it."

Loki was taken aback by her determination to impress him. He'd enjoyed playing with her emotions and winding her up but this defiance was definitely unexpected.

"You still want to learn about magic from me?" He asked, the tone clearly implying that it was an insane decision to be making.

Vivienne looked straight up into his green eyes. "Yes." She said confidently.

"After everything I've just told you, you still want to spent multiple hours alone with me?" he challenged again in the same tone.

"I knew who you were when I agreed to spend time with you back in the hall." She said, shelving her own doubts and puting her faith into Frigga's previous assurance that he could not hurt her. "I do not know anything about magic and I want to. You seem to be the person to teach me." She stated logically. Again, Loki was surprised and impressed.

"Why?" he asked. This was a far less challenging question; it seemed much softer and more honest. Vivienne knew that he was looking for an honest answer from her this time and wasn't just winding her up. By this time they were in the Royal section of the palace and were reaching the split between their two rooms. She stopped and turned to him.

"I believe everyone deserves a second chance. No matter what people do, they always have their reasons." She spoke as confidently as she could and saw the disbelief flash across his face.

"You don't believe that I could just be a monster?" He asked; his voice bitter and guarded despite the broken smile on his face. Again she felt like she was missing something.

"No. No one is born evil." She replied again, and she couldn't decipher the look he gave her. There was something soft there, but also flashes of pain and a little more that suggested he wasn't quite sane. She realised the tough and foreboding act he'd been carrying had almost completely dropped away. Loki then seemed to gather himself.

"Well this was certainly interesting. I'll arrange to meet you in the coming days." He said lightly.

"Goodnight." She said, in the kindest voice she could. Despite having been threatened and pushed up against a wall not ten minutes ago the look that had passed across his face had fascinated her, and she felt like out of the two she was certainly not the one who had been through the most. He looked up at her then and there was a flash of anger across his face as he recognised her pity. He had wanted to ignite an emotional response in her but he certainly did not want that one.

The insane smile returned. "Well then. Sleep well." He said, before turning and walking down to his rooms. Once he was out of sight Vivienne shuddered slightly and went back into her own rooms, wondering what the hell had just happened.


	3. Twenty Eight

After defiantly telling him she wanted to learn about magic Vivienne threw herself into Loki's teaching as enthusiastically as possible, pride helping her overcome any self-consciousness about how idiotic she felt she must look to him. For their first lesson he'd taken her to see Asgard's vast library and had seemed genuinely impressed by her eagerness to learn. The God had met her, grinning smugly, outside her rooms and walked her down and out of the palace to the nearby building. Upon entering the large, cool space they had walked round the shelves of books, Loki explaining to her the basics concepts of magical energy and giving an overview of the different branches of the subject.

At first his voice had been monotonous, clearly demonstrating that he did not enjoy explaining such basics, but after a while she noticed he seemed to get drawn into the subject matter he was talking about, occasionally dropping his imposing nature. Walking through the different shelves he thoughtfully explained the history behind each branch of the subject and ran his fingers lightly along the spines of the books he was passing; it was different from the intimidating and unhinged individual Vivienne had met a few days beforehand. For the most part he was still out to unnerve Vivienne with intimidating comments, but Loki seemed to drop his intimidating façade when he elaborated upon certain points. Vivienne didn't think it a good idea to comment on the change, not wanting to scare away these glimpses of a softer Loki. Instead she listened attentively and watched, drinking in his words and voice as he led her to a secluded, deserted seating area near the back of the building.

He hadn't changed completely however. As they sat and talked he still looked mostly as if she was a waste of his time and tried repeatedly to unnerve her as he had done on their first meeting. It wasn't obvious to anyone watching them, but his words and his actions were purposefully constructed to remind her of how dangerous and unstable he was at every opportunity. Vivienne felt challenged by his word games and tried her best not to show any discomfort.

"I'm going to talk you though the main characteristics involved in channelling magic." The God said lightly, "And you are going to listen and when I am finished you may ask me questions or ask me to reiterate points. I _will_ test that you have been listening."

"Okay then." Vivienne had said, determined to take in the information and ask intelligent questions at the end.

Loki began to explain the various concepts involved in channelling magic while Vivienne listened. Now that they were away from the books and in a more secluded area he stepped up his efforts to make her uncomfortable, slipping examples of his own uses of magic in often. He brought his attempt to take over Earth up in conversation twice, each time with a smirk on his face. A couple of his comments had made her extremely uncomfortable but she tried her best to ignore it and changed the conversation by asking questions about the magic, which was actually really fascinating. It was very complicated to work with and split into many different branches. Vivienne felt like she was enrolling in Hogwarts.

When he finished talking through his main points Vivienne had to concede defeat in some areas and asked him to elaborate on certain parts, requesting he go through them again explaining in a much simpler manner. Loki deliberately stretched her, making it hard for her to catch up and acting as if explaining things which were extremely complex to her were simple and boring to him (which in truth, they were). However, he was surprised and taken aback by how enthusiastically she tried to keep up. The God realised it wasn't just a matter of pride, though that played a large part, she wasn't just learning for the sake of not letting him win. She was genuinely interested in learning about something new and different. It warmed him to her slightly, and his disdain for her thawed out somewhat as he started to appreciate her fighting spirit and the effort she put in; she was obviously trying her damn hardest to learn despite his mischief.

"You need to resist applying the rules of magic to your own sciences." Loki explained towards the end of their session together. "Your mind is limited by the logic you hold to so dear. Aside from that, you are learning this information at an impressive pace, for a mortal."

"Was that a backhanded compliment?" Vivienne smiled, looking directly at Loki. He gave her a small smirk before diving into his next point of discussion.

After a good two hours they stopped talking, Loki offering to walk Vivienne back up to her rooms. On the way back to the palace Vivienne turned to her new teacher.

"I actually really enjoyed today." She said honestly, "Magic really is fascinating." She left out the fact that she was also finding Loki more and more fascinating. She really wanted to ask why he was so determined to unnerve her, but also wanted to be able to see more of him when he dropped the act and became fascinated by magic and she knew she wouldn't see that if she was too blunt now.

"Today was certainly… interesting." Loki said. And truthfully it had been, it left him with a lot to think about. Loki had always been good at reading people and he was fascinated by this human girl and the signs her words and body were showing. He observed the way her brow furrowed as she tried to understand and the way that she tried to hide her discomfort when he made a particularly unsettling comment or how she shrank away slightly when he touched her on the shoulder or the arm just after making such a comment. It was clear she was a little distressed but she shrugged it off with a stubbornness that could only be human.

It was also incredibly clear to Loki that she felt physically attracted to him in a not very innocent way. Despite his attempts to unnerve her she showed all the characteristic body-language of someone incredibly attracted to him, from the way she unconsciously turned her hips towards him or played with her lips or hair whilst speaking to him. Part of him was slightly put out after seeing her interest (another part flattered). Loki was notorious for his sexual exploits and though the prospect of playing with Vivienne was kind of appealing he knew he'd be punished severely for touching the _poor little virginal human girl_. He decided that because she was obviously not intending to act upon her feelings he would just ignore any notion of physicality. _It was a shame_, he thought, _she could have been very interesting to toy with_.

"If you'd like I'd be willing to teach you again." Loki said, giving the most aloof impression he could to hide his genuine interest in her. "I have barely touched upon the basics today, I could teach you more... if you think you're up to it." Truthfully, Loki couldn't tell why he was so interested in spending more time with her. He was certainly impressed by her determination, and after today he could say he was impressed with her enthusiasm for learning. It would be interesting to follow how she adapted to life here on Asgard, because for a human she was quite intelligent, but still stubborn in her manner. Loki couldn't tell if he wanted to befriend her or study her.

Vivienne rose to the challenge immediately. "Okay, I will. Same time next week?" she asked.

Loki smiled in triumph. "Very well, same time next week it shall be."

The next afternoon Vivienne met with Thor and Sif for lunch, concluding that trendy coffee mornings must just be a thing on every world. As it turned out Asgard DID have coffee, though it was certainly different from the taste she was used to despite reassurances that it was the same thing. Sat with her cup in her hands, she looked across the small table at Sif, who was discussing with Thor how nice it was to casually spend some time together.

"Yes," Thor replied, "it certainly is nice to be able to spend some time unwinding. Things have been rather difficult of late." He left out the obvious statement that he was straining to cover a lot of the work his mother had left to care for Vivienne, but she understood it nonetheless and tried not to feel too guilty.

At this point the blond god turned to look at her. "I apologise that I have not spent more time with you. Though I understand you've spent some time recently with my brother?" His apology was sincere, but his question guarded in tone.

Sif turned to look at Vivienne sharply, seemingly unaware of this (judging by the surprised look on her face). Vivienne replied warily. "Yes. He took me to the library yesterday to start teaching me about magic."

"Start?" Thor asked lightly.

"Yes. I'm enjoying the subject; it's all new to me. We're going to meet up again next week so he can teach me more." Vivienne elaborated, with a small smile, trying to suppress how excited she felt about learning magic. And even more about how fascinated she was to spend more time with Loki, wanting to catch more of the god who had talked enthusiastically about the subject he loves.

Now it was Thor's turn to look surprised. "I honestly did not think my brother interested in giving magic lessons." He confessed. Vivienne read the double meaning in his statement and gave a rather unladylike laugh.

"You mean you thought him uninterested in spending time with me because I'm human." She said. Thor just shrugged but Sif laughed along with her.

"Admittedly, it is out of character for Loki to show interest." The goddess said. Then her face fell a little. "I would not be surprised if he had some sort of ulterior motive for it."

"Well he's not being forced." Thor insisted. "I know mother pushed him into yesterday's meeting but he was under no obligation to teach you again." Thor and Vivienne exchanged a quick glance. "I am unsure what his motive is for it, and that makes me uneasy." Thor confessed.

"Does he have to have a motive for being interested in me?" Vivienne questioned, though deep down she knew the answer. The God who had tried to unnerve her definitely gave the impression of always plotting or planning something, and there had been far too much of that character present to justify Loki just wanting to talk about magic.

"With Loki I do fear so, yes." Thor replied. "Where did you go with him yesterday?"

"We went to the library yesterday, it was really nice there." Vivienne explained. "Though I think he wants to show me round more places, your mother did say about giving me a tour."

"Yes, she did." Thor said. "I would have taken you more places myself if duties had not been so tough. I'm sorry for it but I should be able to show you round once things lighten up."

"I'll be willing to show your round if you want." Sif offered. Vivienne looked up at her and the goddess smiled, giving Vivienne the same warm reassurance as when they'd first met that she would not underestimate her or treat her like a pet, for which Vivienne was incredibly grateful. The attitudes of the Asgardians were not changing fast enough for her liking, she was still talked down to by most.

"I'd love that." Vivienne replied, and Sif and Thor were both privately pleased that Vivienne was going to be spending time with someone other than Loki. Thor was incredibly worried about Loki's motives, but he tried to trust his mother's faith that this would be good for both Loki and Vivienne, despite his doubts.

"What are your first impressions of it here then?" Thor asked, changing the subject. "Mother tells me you have an interest in Architecture." Vivienne grinned at that, pleased that someone had taken notice of her interests.

"Yes, what does Asgard look like through human eyes?" Sif asked; a smile on her face.

Vivienne thought about it for a moment. "Big. And very gold." She said, and the two gods opposite her laughed. When they had calmed down she continued. "It certainly makes an impression, but there are parts that I struggle with. You know half your buildings don't make sense from the view of physics on earth, right?" she said.

Sif smiled. "The structures here are inherently magical. But from what we've seen of you I have confidence that you'll be able to understand it in the end, especially if you are being taught lessons about magic. What else?"

"Erm… Well aside from the palace there are lots of tall buildings that are rather skyscraper-esque. That's an earth thing, I can understand that."

"Aye," Thor added, "Like your New York."

"Or London, which is close to where I live." Vivienne replied. "Though one thing that gets me is all the bloody stairs. I am not physically fit by human standards, let along able to keep up with you. Have none of you ever heard of an elevator?" she said, relishing the opportunity to finally air her opinions to people who seemed genuinely interested in her response. "Also, you do have a habit of perching buildings on cliffs here. I'm used to streets more than magic floating walkways, you can't fall off a street. Every time I look over the side I feel dizzy."

Sif and Thor were laughing openly at her words and Vivienne felt thrilled that she could at least keep up a conversation. Thor smiled at her. "When I'm king I'll keep it in mind." He said kindly. She stopped and looked at him curiously again, though she was still smiling.

"I keep forgetting you're going to be king." She said. "Honestly I don't think you're arrogant enough for a prince, you're too nice."

This time it was Sif who bellowed out a laugh. "If you'd have known him a few years ago you would not have said the same thing." She admitted. "Thor has changed a lot recently." She smiled at him. "For the better."

"Thank you Sif," he said, smiling back at her. Vivienne did not miss the find look that passed between them and wondered what was going on there. Thor turned to Vivienne. "It is true, I was very arrogant, but circumstances dictated I learnt my lesson rather quickly."

"Oh?" Vivienne enquired. "What happened?"

Thor paused, the smile falling slightly from his face. "It is not exactly my story to tell. Loki played a large part, and not a pleasant one. If you are spending time with him I do not want to taint your view of him."

Vivienne was a little put out. "You can't just tell me that, that's half an answer." She stated.

"Loki was in a rather dark place for a while." Sif explained. "His actions led up to his attack on your world, and they were less than pretty." She saw Thor's warning glance to her. "But if you want to know more, you shall have to ask him yourself. Try and get to know him and he may be willing to talk to you."

"I hope so." Thor said. "He could do with a friend."

"Well making friends is something I'm having to do anyway." Vivienne replied. She tried to make it a joke but no one missed the bitterness in her voice. As soon as she'd said it she looked down at her hands curled around her mug, cursing herself for letting her emotions get the better of her. Thor felt, for the thousandth time, guilty for bringing her to Asgard and away from her home.

"I'm sure you will be able to settle in here in time," he said, "And if you need anything I am happy to provide it for you. I know my duties are busy but I will find time for you if you want to talk, I'm free most evenings, you can come and visit my rooms."

"Me too", Sif added.

"Thank you." Vivienne replied, the heavy weight in her chest easing somewhat at their kindness. "I can't explain how much it means that you care. I just-" she cut off and took a sip of her 'coffee', composing her next words. "I feel lonely here, despite being surrounded by people. I'm so different from all of you, you know? I can't think like you."

"I was exiled to Midgard for a while." Thor said after a pause. "I was rather arrogant and hot-headed at the time; it was there I learnt humility. Events were very fast, but I can imagine how it would feel. If I had had to stay it would have been very difficult to truly fit in."

Vivienne took in his words and was reassured a little by them. "Thank you for trying to understand. I feel like you guys 'get it' more than anyone else. You and Frigga."

"We've already said we are happy to spend time with you." Sif said softly. "And we are happy to show you to sights and teach you our customs, especially if it helps you feel more settled in the long run."

"Thank you again." Vivienne replied. "I really don't know what else to say, but thanks."

"You are perfectly welcome." Thor replied. "And I think it wise to me enthusiastic about moving on and starting a new life here. In terms of gaining this opportunity I think you are unique."

"That's me, always special!" Vivienne joked, but deep down she really was feeling more reassured. A weight had lifted inside that she had been unaware she was carrying, and as she finished her drink she felt more optimistic about her new life than she had since arriving.


	4. Eighty Six

Over the next few weeks Vivienne slowly settled in, finishing her room with the help of Frigga and the Asgardian designers and starting to socialise more. Thor enthusiastically showed her round in his free time, making sure to talk to her as often as possible. Frigga spent slowly less and less time with her as she settled in which made Vivienne feel a lot more comfortable, though she very much enjoyed Frigga's company she no longer felt conscious about taking too much time out of the Queen's schedule. She felt more and more comfortable slipping into life on Asgard. Of course it wasn't all sunshine and new starts; she still felt incredibly homesick and was still struck occasionally by something she would never see again. It was the silly things that got to her now, like walking down the Asgardian streets and suddenly realising she would never see a red post-box again.

On multiple occasions Vivienne went out with Sif, seeing the sights and talking about anything and everything. Early on she enquired where Sif got her trousers and leggings. When she explained that she was sick of dresses and tripping over them Sif laughed and agreed whole-heartedly, replying that she had made her own trousers to begin with. Vivienne wished she was better at sewing and personalising clothes. It was one of the hobbies that she had tried to pick up now that she had permanent free time, however the master seamstresses here made her feel clumsy and hopeless and after a single hour the inability to coordinate her own hands had nearly driven her to tears.

As time progressed Vivienne met increasingly often with Loki, determined to learn. Over the weeks they spent together Vivienne noticed a change in the time her and Loki spent together. It became slowly less academic and more personal, the subject matter of their conversations often drifted away from magic and into personal interests and opinions. She felt she was no longer being shown round by a tour guide, and more as if she was being shown the sights by a friend. It was obvious after the first few weeks that he had stopped trying to unnerve her and he seemed more comfortable teaching her now, but she couldn't determine any more about his feelings towards her than that. Vivienne had seen enough of him to know how accomplished an actor and liar he was and didn't trust that he was feeling any more friendly towards her, but she could see that at least he wasn't trying to intimidate her anymore.

Truthfully Loki was really enjoying having someone else take an interest in his magical abilities. Though occasionally someone admitted to being impressed most people on Asgard seemed to regard his talent as mediocre, like a child showing off magic tricks in the schoolyard. It was rather flattering and self-indulgent to have someone so fascinated in what he was capable of and he lapped up her compliments about his teaching abilities, though he would never show it outwardly. Vivienne also had a habit of complimenting magic itself on occasion ("This is amazing!") and it made him feel pleased he had spent so much time and effort perfecting his abilities, reigniting his own love for magic.

As conversation grew more and more personal however there was a growing tension between the two of them. Vivienne was convinced that Loki would be uninterested in the mundane aspects of everyday life on Earth and so talked very little about her true interests. He also had a habit of asking rather personal questions, managing to get out of her details about her non-existent love life, few friends and insecurities about where she had been going in life. Vivienne was always strung along by his conversations and only seemed to realise the details she had let slip about herself after he had drawn them out of her. She'd heard lots of stories about him since being here and had to agree, Silvertongue indeed.

Vivienne however was nowhere near as eloquent, and any attempts to learn about Loki's life failed miserably. She felt it was incredibly unfair that he should already know so much about her and that she should know nothing about him. He was closed off and always managed to avoid answering any questions directly, dodging round giving her anything direct. She found it frustrating and his open amusement at her attempts just wound her up further. Quite often when she had admitted something she didn't want to or had not been able to get something out of him she had had to bite her tongue in an attempt not to make a bitter or sarcastic comment about how unfair she though he was being. She then tended to spend the rest of their session together in silence, only asking questions about the work and getting on with it with a slight scowl on her face (she told herself determinedly that she was _not_ sulking). Loki, though he found some of her human qualities refreshing, felt as if she was acting like a sulky child on these occasions and it irritated him greatly. He then treated her as he thought her actions deserved, with the cold detachment an annoyed teacher or parent uses on a misbehaving child. It made some of their time together very grim, and though next time they saw each other it would be back to smiles and laughter there was a growing sense that at some point, things would come to a head.

Vivienne had tried to fill in details about Loki's personal life by asking other people about him. After asking she got the feeling it was definitely not the right way to go. Most people tended to give broad or unspecific compliments, such as "He's a very loyal brother to Thor" or "He's been a valuable addition to many missions we've been on". There were only two or three people (Sif included) who gave their true opinions of Loki's exploits, and none of it was positive. She heard all sorts of stories about terrible things he'd done, about how twisted he was and about how he was inherently evil. It was horrifying to hear but strangely did not do as the stories were intended. The more negative things she heard about Loki the more she wanted to find out his side of the story, to hear how he felt about the things that he'd done. It made her more frustrated that she couldn't get any answers out of him and she wondered when she'd get the chance to broach the subject of even half the things she'd heard.

They had been spending time together two or three times a week for almost two months when Vivienne finally tried to broach the subject that had really been weighing on her mind: Loki's invasion of Earth. It was one of the subjects that Loki had used most to unnerve her in the beginning and because of that she felt at least some license to talk about it. She had gained a little personal information out of him now and did feel more comfortable talking with him on a friendly level, so she hoped he'd be more willing to talk. Earlier on in the week they'd met up and spent time together and not discussed magic at all, instead walking down in the gardens and talking about meaningless things like attitudes towards nature or the architecture in the palace.

This time Vivienne had invited Loki back to her rooms. They first went into her little office so she could put away a magic book he'd given her. It was the first time he'd been in there and she felt incredibly self-conscious as he gazed around the shelves and desk, looking over her notes on magic, and her drawings and writings. One of the easiest ways to let out her frustrations when she first arrived on Asgard had been to write them down, and with hardly anyone ever visiting she hadn't bothered to hide them away, paper was just sitting in bundles on various surfaces. Having Loki sweep his sharp eyes over such personal items had felt incredibly intimate to her.

Loki realised how exposed she was feeling from the way she held herself and gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. She seemed to relax somewhat in response and led him into her living room. She'd kept the ornate cream sofas after redecorating and sat down on the end of one, gesturing for him to sit as well. Vivienne presumed he'd sit on the other facing her, but he came and sat next to her. Despite still wearing dark leather that looked out of place next to the cream fabric he looked utterly comfortable, reclining back with his arm across the back of the sofa towards her, legs splayed open. She could feel his hand behind her neck and she shuffled a little to turn her body towards him.

"So, erm, these are my rooms." She mumbled awkwardly, thrown out by how close he had put himself to her. Aside from when he had tried to unnerve her initially they had not had much physical proximity, only the occasional formal gesture, like Loki offering her his arm. Now she drew her knees up close to her on the sofa and they touched his leg nearest to her, just above the knee.

He smiled charmingly at her, amusement in his tone. "What a revealing statement, I would never have guessed." He said sarcastically. She frowned a little.

"Hey, don't mock me." She replied light-heartedly, trying to ease any tension.

"But it's just so fun to do so." The God of Mischief replied, voice and face still teasing. She felt his finger brush against her neck and it sent shivers down her spine. _He's doing this deliberately goddamnit_, she realised, and she was determined not to let him put her off asking what she wanted to. He had obviously realised by this point that she had lured him in here for a reason. She really hated feeling two steps behind sometimes.

"It's not that personal in here yet but I think I'll be able to make it a home in time," she said. "If you don't mind me asking, what are your rooms like?" she asked, testing how willing he was to share today.

Loki knew what she was trying to do; she'd been trying to get personal information out of him for weeks. At first he'd been amused by her efforts but now it was starting to become irritating. He'd never been one for caring and sharing and was reluctant to do so now. "Why so curious?" he asked lightly.

She answered him honestly. "I've known you for weeks, I still feel like I know nothing about you. You're here in my rooms; surely it's only fair that I can ask in return?"

"It doesn't work like that." Loki shot back. "We reveal ourselves to others of our own free will, just because you have chosen to open yourself up to me does not mean I have any obligation to return the favour." He sounded sure of his words but Vivienne was not dissuaded, she'd expected him to resist her.

"You've tricked me into revealing things about myself for weeks. That isn't fair." She said.

He gave her a look that said quite plainly he thought that her argument was one of a sulking child. "And if you were intelligent you wouldn't have fallen for it." He retorted.

"So it's my fault that you tricked me?" Vivienne replied with a tone of disbelief. Loki's annoyance was clear in his features now, and he pulled his arm back from behind her and sat up straighter.

"Yes actually." Loki stated. "Stop trying to trick me into telling you my past, it's not going to happen." He spoke with authority, hoping that it would put an end to the girl's insistent questions. She was stubbornly human about it however.

"You honestly think it's the victim's fault when they're tricked?" she said, disbelief written all over her face.

"Yes I do." He retorted, looking angry now. Honestly he was. It didn't take Loki long to get wound up about something of late and this had clearly been building for a while. He knew his repressed anger wasn't directed at Vivienne, not really, but she was being incredibly annoying. He decided to speak his mind. "If you weren't so weak and human you might be able to keep up with me. It's your own fault for insisting on spending so much time with me. I warned you, you chose to walk into it. Did you think you were being clever?" He stood up at this point, unable to keep himself relaxed.

Vivienne felt like she was being told off and she couldn't think of an appropriate response. She was angry at him for being such an ass and at herself for failing to get through to him. She stumbled in her ability to construct a convincing argument after his harsh words, her own anger clouding her judgement. Instead she stood up to meet him and uttered the first coherent thought that passed through her head. "My god, you're unbelievable! Sif was right about you, you really are heartless."

At this point Loki rounded on her, his face dark and his self-restraint snapping. Vivienne immediately realised she'd gone too far and tried to think of something to say to fix the situation. She clearly didn't think fast enough though because he was within her personal space in an instant, his whole body tense with rage.

"Oh so when failing to get information out of me you go running to hear what other people have to say?" his voice was low and dangerous. "Well clearly if you've learnt about my past and formed an opinion of it already then there's nothing more I need to tell you. I'll be leaving now." He forced himself to say.

He turned towards the door to leave, but Vivienne didn't want to lose whatever this fight was. She found her voice. "I'm interested in you, okay!?" she shouted. "Why do you always have to push me away when I'm trying to be nice to you?"

"And why do you insist on being so nice to me? Clearly you've heard that I'm not worth it." Loki spewed as he turned back to face her, not even trying to hide the pent up anger he was now able to release at her. That's the thing about being on house arrest; you have to suppress your destructive tendencies to show that you're reforming.

"I don't care what they said. Anything you've done you must have done for a reason." Vivienne insisted, feeling rather proud of herself for putting these thoughts into words as well as she was doing. "You killed hundreds trying to rule my fucking planet but I'm still here with you! I won't judge until I've heard both sides of the story."

The reply was full of spite. "Then you'll be waiting a long time before making any judgements."

"Then I want to get to know you, is that such a crime?" she pleaded.

"YES!" Loki shouted back at her. "Despite your insistence I can inform you that you do NOT want to know me or my past. I've done things that will make your pitiful Midgardian blood run cold! So stop trying to bring conversation round to talking about my past and the reasons for my actions. It won't happen!" Vivienne watched him shout and was infuriated by his stubbornness. She retaliated with the first thought that entered her head.

"So is it true you fucked a horse?" she said coolly.

Loki stopped thinking rationally in that moment, driven by the rage this _infuriating little brat_ had wound inside him. He watched almost with detachment as his right wrist came up and backhanded her, feeling the sickening crack in her body as he made contact with her shoulder and hearing the short wail she gave when she collapsed across the room. When he could think clearly again he saw that he'd thrown her several metres into a now broken table and that blood was starting to leak out from under her still, unmoving body. He remembered with horror how weak Midgardian bodies were. _Oh gods, what have I done?_


	5. Eighty Seven

Vivienne woke up with her head spinning, immediately conscious of the pain tearing at her right shoulder. She gasped slightly at it and opened her eyes, struggling to get them to adjust. The room was bright and when she focused she saw she was in her own bed with Frigga sitting next to her.

"Hush there, it's okay." The Queen said calmly. "Are you in pain?"

Vivienne couldn't form words yet as she was still disorientated, but her little "yes" motion was enough. After a couple of seconds Frigga was handed a glass of sweet smelling amber liquid, helping Vivienne up and encouraging her to drink. The movement hurt but after drinking about half the glass she started to feel the pain receding slightly. She drank down all of the offered liquid then pulled herself upright.

It worked quickly, after a few moments she could no longer feel any pain, in fact she could not feel her shoulder at all as it had been completely numbed. Vivienne reached up with her left hand and felt the bandage winding around her right shoulder and torso, trying to remember what happened to cause it.

"Your collarbone is broken; it pierced through your skin but we've reset it now." Frigga explained gently. Vivienne nodded to indicate she understood. She suddenly realised that she wasn't in the clothes she had been wearing and was in fact in only a nightdress. So they'd changed her while she was unconscious. Great.

Do you remember what happened?" Frigga asked her gently. As she asked the memories came flooding back and Vivienne remembered what she'd said before Loki hit her and the look of twisted rage that had been on his face as a result.

"Oops." She said, almost with a giggle, though she was already feeling guilty for the comment. Frigga looked at her questioningly and she elaborated.

"I never know when to stop." She took a glass of water from the bedside table, taking a sip before continuing. "I really shouldn't have said what I did."

Frigga shook her head. "No child, it's not your fault that this happened. It is Loki's for not being able to control himself. I thought he was better than this." She closed her eyes momentarily, her kind and regal voice filled with what Vivienne thought was regret. "I'm sorry for allowing him to get so close to you. I thought this would be good for him but he must have terrified you."

Vivienne grew more confused as Frigga spoke. "Did he say what happened?" she asked the Queen.

"He simply admitted to striking you and that he should not have." Frigga replied. "That is all he's said." She was clearly disappointed that Loki has supplied no justification for his actions, which Vivienne thought he would have done.

"Oh. Did he say any of what I said to him?" she said anxiously. Her brows furrowed and Frigga could see she was obviously upset.

"No. What did you say to him?" the Queen asked in return.

Before Vivienne could answer there was a knock at the door and Thor came though, his face grim. He saw the Vivienne was awake and turned to her.

"I'm sorry for what my brother has done, and we are making sure he will pay. I have just come to inform my mother that he is secure in his rooms and that our father wants to hold the trial this afternoon."

"Thank you Thor-" Frigga started, but Vivienne cut in.

"Wait, what trial?" she said, panicking slightly now.

"Loki's trial." Thor replied, as if it should have been obvious. "He broke the rules of his confinement. Upon fatally wounding anyone he will be banished to Jotunheim. You could have died from your injuries. I am truly sorry that he took his anger out upon you."

"No!" Vivienne shouted. Both Frigga and Thor turned questioning looks her way and Frigga tried to calm her as she became more and more agitated sat in the bed. "No it's my fault what happened, he can't be punished for it!" she insisted.

"What did you say to him child?" Frigga asked again, more authority in her tone this time. Vivienne paused for a moment and then spoke quietly.

"I asked him why he wouldn't tell me about his past and when he wouldn't answer I started attacking him with stories I'd heard of him. I was just trying to get him to talk. I was deliberately trying to wind him up to get a response out of him, I didn't realise I'd made him angry enough to hit me." She looked between Frigga and Thor and her volume increased. "He can't be banished because of me!"

Thor looked at her with confusion. "He took his anger out on you knowing that you were weak and helpless to his actions. Do you not wish to see him punished for that?"

"No!" Vivienne felt her temper flare up again and tried this time to control herself and not make comments that would get her punched. "I was not weak and helpless; I made some pretty cutting remarks. His anger was totally justified and I caused it, it was only logical he'd retaliate against me."

"If you knew he would retaliate against you why did you do it?" Frigga asked her logically.

"Oh I don't know, I wasn't thinking clearly at the time." Vivienne insisted. "I just wanted to get him to speak!"

There was a tense silence as the three of them thought. Vivienne had felt her anger was justified at the time when Loki wasn't opening up to her but she was horrified at the thought of him being imprisoned because of her actions. She toyed with the idea of telling Frigga and Thor the exact words she'd said, but was scared that instead of helping him it might end up getting him into more trouble. Thor made up her mind for her though.

"What did you say to him before he hit you?" The Thunder god asked her. Vivienne swallowed her embarrassment at the next statement and spoke as emotionlessly as possible, though she couldn't quite keep the embarrassment out of her voice.

"I asked him if it was true he fucked a horse."

Both Thor and Frigga winced at her statement and exchanged a meaningful look with each other. Vivienne couldn't work out what they were silently saying to each other so she reiterated her point.

"I don't want him punished. I'm dropping the charges." She insisted, still feeling powerless sat in her bed.

Frigga looked at her. "We cannot just ignore that he has broken his terms of probation."

"No, we won't. And I'm sure he won't either. Just don't banish him. I couldn't live with myself if he was banished because of me." Her voice grew small at the end and she looked down, feeling like she'd been the one to ruin everything.

"What shall I tell Father then?" Said Thor, looking to Frigga.

Frigga sighed and turned to Vivienne. "What would you suggest we do?" she asked.

"Oh I don't know, just don't banish him." Vivienne paused for a moment before making up her mind. "I want to speak to him."

Thor spoke. "Well we can ensure that no punishment occurs until you have recovered and are well enough to visit hi-"

"No", Vivienne cut in. "I want to speak to him soon, like today. And alone. Can't you bring him up here?"

"I don't think that would be-" Thor started with a slight frown, but his mother cut him off.

"Thor, tell Odin to withhold the trial. At least until Loki has spoken with Vivienne. Then bring him up here." Her voice was full of authority and Vivienne was suddenly reminded that she was speaking to the Queen of the Gods.

Thor looked confused at his mother. "Are you sure?" he asked her, doubt written clearly across his face.

"Yes. I will stay in here with them until I am sure nothing will go wrong. Now go." She ordered, and the two women watched as Thor begrudgingly made his way out of the room. One he was gone she turned to Vivienne.

"Are you sure you're okay to see him?" she asked softly, the harsh tone she had used to stand up to her son melting away. For all the trouble she usually had with doubles meanings with Asgardians Vivienne could clearly tell here that the Queen thought she was scared of Loki.

"I'm fine, honestly," she insisted, "I'm not scared of him, though I do think he overreacted I also understand why he was so angry with me. I wasn't innocent either. If anything I want this to stay between me and him as much as possible."

"You do understand that he has broken the terms of a very serious probation? He is anything but innocent. Though I do not want to condemn my child many here on Asgard would see this as an opportunity to finally see him punished for his numerous crimes."

Vivienne was quiet as she thought about the Queen's words. After a moment she uttered again, almost stubbornly, "It was my fault he got angry."

Frigga looked at her with a sad smile. "And if I let him come in here, do you think you could find it in your heart to forgive him for hurting you?" her voice was soft, but Vivienne's reply was even softer.

"I already have."

"There are many who would think you foolish for forgiving a trickster so easily." Frigga's voice was detached, but Vivienne could see she was trying to hold back her emotions. Sometimes Vivienne wished that the Aesir could just be as expressive as she was about her feelings, all these double meanings and hidden thoughts drove her insane. She found the best policy was just to be honest because there was no way she could deceive anyone here like they could her. One attempt at a lie and they'd see right through her.

"I think that's one reason I'm doing it." Vivienne admitted shyly. "Loki always seems so closed off. When was the last time someone forgave him for anything? I just hope he can forgive me for what I said in return."

Frigga paused for a moment, sweeping her eyes over Vivienne critically. Vivienne could see she was making some sort of judgement but was unable to tell exactly what it was. Frigga spoke calmly, but the regal authority was back in her voice. "I know I told Thor I'd oversee, but do you think you'll be okay to speak alone with him?"

Vivienne let out a small nod, filled with hope that she was being given the opportunity she wanted.

"I will admit I have my doubts about this. Just tell me this, you will ensure that he makes it up to you, won't you?" Frigga insisted, standing up.

"Oh I will." Vivienne smiled.

"Good. Ask if you need anything." The Queen said before carrying herself out of the room. Vivienne sat quietly for a moment and sighed, closing her eyes and thinking about what to say.

Vivienne had fallen asleep when there was a quiet knock at her door. It jolted her upright and she let out a disorientated "Whoisit?" before pulling herself upright, tugging the bed clothes up over her thin nightgown.

She was at a loss for words when Loki came through the door. He looked worn down, she thought, as he came to stand at the end of the bed, looking down at her with an unreadable expression in his emerald eyes. He was in his leather armour, as always, but it seemed to weigh down on him like it never had before. Neither of them spoke for a while, as although Vivienne had thought out what she was going to say now that Loki was here her mind had gone completely blank. She made eye contact with him and couldn't work out what he was feeling. He looked a little sad and a little confused and some other things that she couldn't quite decipher.

"You wanted to see me." Loki said after a while. His voice was cold and detached and it hurt Vivienne to hear it. She'd got rather used to making him smile, even if he was just smirking at her teasingly, and she decided there and then what she was going to say.

"I'm sorry." She spurted. Loki looked completely taken aback, surprise written all over his pale features.

"Why would you be sorry?" he asked with a frown. "I broke your collarbone."

She took a deep breath and looked up at him, trying not to feel too much like a child. "I'm sorry that I tried to dig into your past. It's none of my business and it wasn't my place. And I'm sorry that I wound you up to try and get a reaction from you, and I'm sorry that because of me you're going to be exiled to, oh fuck I can't pronounce it." She hung her head and brought her hand up to wipe her face, taking a deep breath. When she looked up Loki had moved round to sit on the end of her bed, by her feet.

"Why would you think that this is your fault?" he said, his brow furrowed. "I'm the one that struck you, my actions were entirely my own."

"And would you have hit me if I wasn't being an annoying little shit?" she asked, a grim smile on her face.

"Probably not, no." he admitted. He didn't smile but his facial expression grew lighter, his frown calming.

"Well there you are. You might have hit me, and it does fucking hurt by the way, but it was me that wound you up, and I-" she paused. "I'm really sorry that you're going to be punished because of me. You don't deserve it."

"How do you know I don't deserve it?" he asked her quietly. "Many here would gladly see me burn alive." His tone was bitter and she saw that he looked genuinely sad.

"Do you believe you deserve it?" she said quietly. His eyes swung up to make contact with hers and his mouth fell open, but he didn't say anything. The silence was confirmation enough.

"Oh Loki." She said softly. He looked up at her and couldn't believe the genuine care showing on her face. Were all Midgardians this full of pity? He cursed her for thinking he deserved to be forgiven, and for making him think about the possibility of redemption himself. Still, she moved him emotionally in a way no one had done for many years, and he was fascinated by her despite himself. He looked up at her and spoke slowly.

"I can help you." He said, but Vivienne noticed the obvious apprehension in his voice.

"How?"

"I can heal your collarbone permanently," he said, "but you'll have to trust me."

Vivienne frowned. "If it can be healed, why hasn't it been done already?"

Loki phrased his next words carefully. "I am one of the only people here familiar with Midgardian anatomy." he explained, "And I've never healed this kind of injury before. It will be somewhat experimental."

She looked at him with raised eyebrows. "So you're asking me to trust you not to grow me a third arm?"

"The results won't be quite that extreme." He assured her. "But I need you to trust me and stay very still no matter how uncomfortable it feels. Because I can assure you being healed is not always pleasant." He looked at her with the most calm and reassuring gaze he could, hoping that she would accept his offer.

Vivienne paused for a moment and realised that he was trying to prove something. That he was sorry? She couldn't tell. He had not apologised to her in words but she got the distinct impression that any forgiveness would be shown, not said. This was her opportunity to let him make amends. _Sneaky Bastard_, she then thought, realising that if she accepted and trusted him this was also confirmation for him that she was sorry for the remarks that she had made.

"Okay." She said shakily. He raised one eyebrow at her and she replied more firmly. "I'm okay. Let's do this." She paused rather comically. "What do I do?"

Loki stood up and came to sit on the edge of the bed right by her, turned to face her, the top of his thigh leaning against hers under the covers. It was physically the closest they'd ever been. "Slip your shoulder out of your nightdress." He asked of her. She hesitated and he looked straight at her.

"I need contact with your skin." He explained. Slowly and silently she slid the right shoulder off her nightdress, feeling incredibly conscious of how low it fell. Her breast wasn't quite exposed but it was close.

"Thank you." Loki said, and then he adopted a more business-like tone. "I need you to look at me." He commanded. He didn't speak loudly but there was power in his voice. She looked up into his green eyes and saw that they were brighter than usual, almost glowing as was custom when he used magic. "Breathe deeply" he instructed, and she did so as his hands came up. One of them rested on the bandage directly over the break, and the other spread across the first available patch of exposed skin outside of the bandage, across the top of her chest with his long fingers spread up to her shoulder, his palm resting lightly on the exposed top of her breast. She felt his slightly cold fingers and had to force herself to breathe deeply again.

"Okay," he closed his eyes. "Keep looking at me and keep breathing as evenly as possible. And stay still." He ordered. Barely a second passed before Vivienne could feel the magic spreading through her shoulder. It felt like an extremely uncomfortable intense tingling and she had to force herself to breathe. She struggled not to panic as she felt her collarbone literally knitting itself back together. _Magic is so fucking weird man_, she repeated in her head.

She bit her lip and looked at Loki's closed eyes, his brow drawn together in concentration. She took the chance to study his face up close, staring shamelessly while focusing on the details of his features to distract herself from the unpleasant feeling. It's not that she hadn't stared at him on occasion before, but now she could make out detail in his eyelashes and the curve of his thin lips. Vivienne decided that studying Loki's attractive features was definitely a worthwhile distraction.

She felt like she had been drinking in his features for an age when the tingling receded, but realistically it had been no more than twenty seconds. Loki opened his eyes to find her large blue ones staring directly into his and he breathed heavily, giving her a small smile.

"I'd call that a success. Give it a twist."

Vivienne rolled her shoulder back (with Loki's hands still on it) and everything felt normal. Better than normal in fact, the ache she usually had in the top of her spine from hunching over computers, or since she'd been here books and papers, was also completely gone. She gave a large smile to match his and he removed his hands from her shoulder. Her shoulder felt bare without his hands and she tried to hide the shiver it gave her, bringing the shoulder of her nightdress back up to its proper place.

"Thank you." She smiled at him, letting him know that she was grateful for his help. Again she was astounded by his magical abilities and she had to force herself to remember that he was here for a reason, that it was he who had broken her bone in the first place.

"Do you need help removing the bandage? It's useless now." He asked her. She thought about it and almost agreed but then realised to take it off she would have to expose her whole chest to him because of how it wrapped round her torso. Under different circumstances that thought was very pleasing but for now she decided that it would be rather inappropriate to get flustered. She smiled nonetheless.

"Thank you for the offer but I can manage." She insisted. Loki realised the reason for her shyness from the blush on her face and sat back, moving out of her personal space.

"I still want to find another way to apologise." He said to her. "You did not deserve to be the output for my rage."

Vivienne looked up at him. "I still want to try and stop you being exiled so we can get back to our lessons."

Loki looked at her with disbelief. "You still want to spend time with me, after all this?"

"Yes." She said before admitting quietly, "I find you and your magic fascinating."

Loki looked down at her and was stunned by her trust in him, and was also rather thrilled she admitted to being as interested in him as he was in her. He was so used to people rejecting him and pushing him away and he had learnt the hard way that things were always his fault. This girl showed so much empathy it made his chest hurt.

"I will repay you." He promised her, carefully taking one of her hands from her lap and kissing the back of it, in a much different manner to the first time he'd done so the night she first met him. It was a much more gentle and sweet gesture than Vivienne had imagined she'd ever receive from Loki and she blushed again and smiled, wondering if her stomach would ever stop bubbling like a swooning lovesick teenager and trying to compose herself.

"Thank you." She said, blaming the injury and it's effects for how strongly he was affecting her.

"I'll leave you to sleep now," he promised her. "I'm sure that in the morning you'll be required to explain our agreement. Goodnight Vivienne.

"Goodnight Loki." She said softly before the door closed. Once it did she sighed and slumped back on the bed, feeling physically relaxed and emotionally satisfied for the first time since she'd arrived here.


	6. One Hundred and One

Vivienne had had to put up a strong argument to convince Odin that Loki did not deserve to be exiled. It had been one of the scariest things she'd ever done, standing in front of the Allfather in Asgard's throne room and explaining why he shouldn't go. She was well aware that Odin didn't care for her opinion but Frigga had supported her through her efforts and in the end Loki was allowed to stay. Odin scared Vivienne, every aspect of him was intimidating. The first time Vivienne had been introduced to him was with Frigga, who explained that she was here on Asgard to stay. The King had just swept his eyes over her and nodded before walking away. After her and Frigga argued for him Loki stayed on the condition that he wore what Vivienne understood to be a magical tracking bracelet when he left the private royal parts of the palace. Loki sneered at the metal band and declared he'd rather just stay in his rooms, and for the most part he did.

This meant that Loki and Vivienne's lessons had moved into Vivienne's rooms permanently, as because she was living within the royal wing he did not have to wear the bracelet to visit her. When the lessons restarted Loki was very reserved, only talking about the work as they had in the beginning. It made Vivienne realise just how much and how positively their relationship had changed now they were acting again as they had at the start. She didn't try and push the matter though, scared of what damage she'd done to their relationship, simply getting on with the work and devoting herself to it wholeheartedly.

It was easy to commit herself to learning about a topic that interested her. Having been studying to try and get into university before she came to Asgard Vivienne was used to putting lots of time and effort into learning new material. Unlike before however there were no set grades to achieve, no exams that she had the possibility of failing. Loki did test that she was remembering things on a regular basis but she did not have to achieve any certain level and that made the lessons fun and enjoyable. It was easy to ask "So why does this happen?" or similar questions and Loki could see that she genuinely cared about knowing the answers.

It was over two weeks before anything non-magic related came up in conversation. They had been discussing when to arrange their next lessons when Vivienne had asked about the date. Time was a far less important aspect of Asgardian life as it was Midgardian. Because the Aesir lived so long they were not as preoccupied with measuring dates passing as people on earth had been. Vivienne soon lost track of days, only realising that multiple months had past when the foods they were eating changed according to what was in season. Even the weather was consistently sunny, though the temperature seemed to get warmer every day.

"What would the date be on earth at the moment?" Vivienne questioned. Loki looked up from his book, surprised by the sudden question for a moment before thinking about it.

"Mid-August I think, by your calendar." He replied after a pause. "Why?"

"I just wondered. Wait… that means it's my birthday any day now." She said, the surprise evident in her voice. "I'm turning eighteen."

"I often forget how young you are." Loki said, amused, as he closed the book and angled himself more towards her. Vivienne looked at him mildly affronted.

"Hey, I'm an adult by Earth standards now. Well, Britain anyway. It's an important landmark." She said proudly, the childish grin on her face evident in her voice as well.

"So how would you usually celebrate such a landmark?" Loki asked, amusement creeping into his features to match hers.

Vivienne laughed at the question. "Eighteenth birthday parties are usually rather grand and involve a LOT of alcohol. It's the legal drinking age."

"So you assert your responsibility by being completely irresponsible?" he smirked. "That seems a terrible but rather entertaining way of doing things."

"Pretty much yeah." She grinned back at him. "That and dancing to terrible pop music."

"I heard some popular Midgardian music when I was on Earth." Loki said, "I can agree that it definitely qualifies as terrible."

"Hey; some of the stuff is bad but we do produce some excellent music." Vivienne's mind went back to both hers and her parents' record collections, trying to think of anything that the Asgardians here might approve of.

Loki laughed. "If you could find me something you think anyone here would like I'd give it a listen. But I still think the music on your world is terrible. Repetitive white noise, most of it."

Vivienne laughed at that. "If that's what you think of chart music then I'd hate to introduce you to dubstep."

He raised one eyebrow, but didn't question further.

"I like lots of musicians who don't regularly have top ten hits." She continued, "But truth be told the repetitive chart music would be what I danced to at an eighteenth birthday party. You know separated from everything on Earth I'm even getting to the point of missing One Direction, which is something I never thought I'd say. That's bound to get played at an eighteenth." Her face was full of appreciation for the memories, but after a moment it fell. "My dad always insisted that the first drink I ever bought would be a pint for him. It hurts that I can't celebrate with them." She admitted in a small voice.

Loki gave her an indecipherable look, then after a moment spoke in a voice that for him was rather soft. "Well, I'm sure we could arrange for some sort of party here. Mention it to Thor or Frigga, they love any excuse for a celebration." He brushed off his relatives names lightly, mentioning them as casually as possible.

Vivienne smiled. "That could be good." She said, happy that Loki had suggested it. A party did seem like a nice idea, and she got on well with enough Asgardians that she could have a busy enough party without feeling uncomfortable around strangers.

"It would also give you something to organise, rather than having someone give you hobbies to work on." He added, his voice laced with innuendo. "I know you well enough by now to see that you'd love to have some control."

She smirked at him, but replied honestly. "Wouldn't you though? Everyone here is better than me. At everything. It's easiest to just sit back and let the more capable people handle everything, but it does get tiring after a while."

"I can understand that." Loki replied, taking the obvious opportunity to tease. "I have always been one of the more capable people, so usually I am the one in control, but I can understand how being inferior would be frustrating.

"Hey, watch the wording there, asshole." Vivienne said, but there was no real spite in her voice, and neither was their spite in the smirk he gave her in return.

"You adore me. Don't deny it." Loki joked. He knew the truth of his words though and watched carefully for Vivienne's reaction. Since their recent lessons had stayed on the subject of magic he'd had very little chance to continue teasing her and testing her humanity, not wanting to show too creepy an interest in her this soon after their argument. Truthfully, Loki was enjoying that Vivienne had lightened the conversation, it gave him license to tease her.

And Loki wasn't the only one enjoying the chance to throw a joke around. Vivienne treated his comment as a joke, despite the jolt the truth the words sent through her stomach. She _did_ adore him, despite herself, even after the drama. The recent more serious lessons had just fortified her love of being taught by him and had made her appreciate the friendlier side he had revealed to her. She threw a cushion at the god's head, and in return said god just laughed.

The next day Vivienne mentioned the idea to Thor. As Loki predicted he was incredibly pleased to accommodate her and agreed to help her arrange anything she needed in his free time. She was glad for something to organise as the next day Loki announced he was going away on a short trip for a few days. Vivienne expressed her confusion later to Frigga when it occurred to her, pointing out that it broke the rules of his new confinement, but the Queen just smiled at her and insisted she and Odin had approved this trip, though she wouldn't say where he was going.

Vivienne spent the days organising the party and doing what had become her daily routine here. She drew pictures and wrote stories, spent time exploring with Sif and Frigga and read her way through many books from the library. The empty shelves in her office were filling up with her writings, drawing and numerous books that she had borrowed. She familiarised herself with the stories most Asgardians knew from childhood, fairy-tales or tales of famous historical figures. She educated herself on the structure of the nine realms and enjoyed reading about Asgardian perceptions of earth, most of which were hilariously outdated and old. Some concepts were difficult to understand and she had a steady list of questions to ask her friends. Some of them she asked to Loki during their lessons but some of the more embarrassing she saved for Frigga, aware that Loki already had to explain to her things she didn't understand during lesson and didn't want the number of stupid questions she asked him to grow embarrassingly large.

She also socialised far more than she had back home, though it was mostly Sif, Thor, Frigga and Loki she called herself close to she did have a friendly relationship with quite a few other people on Asgard. She had kept in contact with the Aesir who had helped her redesign her rooms and a few others she had met through Sif or Thor. Though they could be condescending at times they did genuinely seem to want to spend tie with Vivienne and she was happy to socialise in return. It had been lonely on Asgard for the first few months, cut off so completely from home, but she was starting to feel less so as her network of friends slowly grew.

The date for the party was set for three weeks after Vivienne had asked Thor about it. Eight days before hand she was writing out a list of her favourite Asgardian foods that she'd like to be served at the party when there was a quiet knock the front door of her rooms.

"Coming!" she sang, leaving the buffet plans and moving to the door. The productivity had put her in a very good mood. She wondered who it would be visiting at this time of day, she often had visits from Sif now but usually they were announced beforehand. Maybe it would be Frigga, who had taken to turning up when Vivienne was free, though she never arranged it beforehand.

She opened the door to find Loki looking down at her, Frigga beside him. They were both smiling at her, Loki's smile small and smug and Frigga looking genuinely pleased. Vivienne gave a large one in return.

"Loki! You're back." She said gladly, and his smug smile turned into a familiar teasing smirk.

"Yes, I am." He said mockingly, but there was no harshness in his tone and she just shook her head and huffed at him, the amusement still on her face.

"Loki's visit has a purpose." Frigga said as they moved through into her rooms. Vivienne noticed that behind them was a large, light wooden box, floating along just off the ground. She frowned, but remembered Loki had no need to carry it when he had magic. When they came into the living room it dropped by the edge of the sofa.

"I'm glad you're back", Vivienne said, staving off her curiosity for the sake of being polite. Impatience would be the most human reaction to a big mysterious box and she was trying to learn to fit in with the Asgardians. "Where did you go? I thought you wouldn't be allowed to go on trips."

Loki paused before answering, a seriousness appearing on his face. "I said to you that I still wanted to apologise further for my actions." He said lightly, glancing at his mother who nodded encouragingly. "The contents of this box are my apology, and a birthday present." His fingers lightly brushed one carved corner of the box. Vivienne looked up at Frigga who smiled at her and then she turned back to the box. She moved to kneel in front of it, pulling at a small latch on the front. When it slid open she looked up at Loki who gave her an encouraging nod, before standing and pulling the lid upright and open.

Inside the box was a mass of black machines and wires, electrical and undoubtedly Midgardian, though none immediately recognisable to Vivienne. She looked up at Loki with confused but excited expression. He reached down into the back of the box, wrapped his hand around something and pulled out… her laptop.

Vivienne's mouth fell open with disbelief and further confusion. "Is that really what I think it is?" she said hesitantly, her eyes glued to the familiar black shiny rectangle, the little "ACER" symbol on the surface staring right back at her.

"Yes. And the rest is a solar power unit to generate electricity to power it, I know the energy doesn't last more than a few hours." He said, passing the laptop over to her gracefully. His voice sounded rather satisfied with her expression.

Vivienne slowly took the laptop in hand and flipped the lid open, her eyes roaming over every inch of its surface. As her fingers brushed over the familiar keyboard her face split into a grin from ear to ear. All the possibilities! She could type again rather than handwriting things, and all of her music was on here! She looked up to find Loki staring at her, his face having split into a pleased smile when hers had.

Vivienne snapped the lid closed on her laptop and threw it the short distance to the sofa, where it landed on the cushions. Without thinking she rushed forwards and threw her arms around Loki's waist with a "Thank you!", smiling into his leather coat as she hugged him tightly round the middle.

Loki was rather taken aback for a second; though she was not strong enough to physically dislodge him from where he stood he was blown away by the force of her enthusiasm and affection. He saw his mother looking at him with a large smile on her own face and wrapped his arms around Vivienne in return.

"Thank you again." She said, muffled into his chest, and he became acutely aware that this was the most intimate physical contact he'd had with anyone since the day he'd fallen off the bi-frost, when Frigga had hugged him before Thor had returned. It was a painful thought, when he considered all he'd been through since, and he struggled to keep his face neutral when she pulled away slightly and looked up at him.

"Seriously, thank you so much." She said, unable to keep the smile off her face. Because of the look on Loki's face she suddenly became aware of how forcefully she hugged him and became worried she'd been too enthusiastic. Loki let his arms fall as she pulled away and he placed a smile back on his features.

As a change of subject Vivienne shuffled over to the box again and started pulling objects out. The Solar power unit was a black square, about two feet across. It had obvious panels on the top and three sides, with a series of plugs on the back to run power from. A little "Stark" logo was printed into the top right hand corner. From around it Vivienne pulled out her computer mouse, her speakers and even a set of earphones. As she looked through she smiled openly; her excitement showing.

"If you're happy then I'm going to leave," Frigga said when Vivienne had paused to look over her laptop again, "I have many things to attend to, I hope you enjoy your gifts."

Vivienne gave her a cheerful thank you and goodbye. She Queen nodded and swept out of the room, leaving Loki with Vivienne and the sprawl of electronics.

"I'll help you set it up if you wish." He said, stepping closer. Vivienne smiled up at him and his eyes glowed green, the solar unit then floating again and moving out to the balcony. He let it rest in a sunny spot, before turning to find Vivienne rushing out with an armful of electronics, including her laptop and the charger.

Before Loki had blinked she'd enthusiastically dragged the little table out on the balcony over to the solar unit and set her laptop up on it, plugging the power in and switching the on button. He stood watching from the archway out to the balcony; her eyes glowed with happiness as she waited for it to load and Loki felt more fond of her in that moment than he'd ever done before, knowing that she'd appreciated his gift so much. He knew that she missed home and had thought it a good idea, but didn't expect it to be this well received.

When the laptop booted her hands danced across the keyboard to log herself in. The desktop background of a large Star Trek insignia appeared and she smiled again, letting out a laugh.

"Oh god, I wish I could introduce you to Star Trek." She said to Loki, gesturing for him to sit with her. Instead he walked over and stood behind her to put one hand on her shoulder as she looked at the screen in front of her.

"Indeed." Loki simply said in agreement, not wanting to spoil Vivienne's mood by announcing he doubted any entertainment from Earth would capture his interest. Vivienne just smiled further and went back to clicking fast.

"Talking of music," she continued, "let's see what you make of some of this."

Vivienne opened her music library and scrolled through the selection, eyes getting lost as she trailed the names on the screen. She momentarily seemed to forget Loki was there despite his hand, as when he spoke she jumped a little.

"Show me some of the music you like then." Loki said; the challenge clear in his voice. Vivienne searched through for something that he would like or something that would horrify him. Or possibly even both. Her eye shot up with a smile when she found a lone song.

"I said to you the other day about this. Present to you: dubstep Pirates Of The Caribbean." She said proudly, before clicking play. She watched his face as she waited for the bass to drop.

Loki laughed to begin with. "This is terrible. I would never enjoy such a jarring electronic sou-" Vivienne fell about laughing when the bass dropped and he visibly winced, his speech cutting off. "Just turn it off!" He said after a moment (though he was obviously playing alone), and Vivienne did so, not able to stop herself from laughing further.

"Enough of the awful noise," Loki said, squeezing her shoulder lightly where his hands still rested on it. "Show me something you deem as good."

Vivienne turned back to the screen, but the smile soon left her face and was replaced with a small frown as she scrolled, searching for something.

"Having issues finding anything decent?" Loki said; the grin on his face evident in his voice even though Vivienne wasn't looking at him.

"No, there's plenty of stuff here I love. But I don't want to show it to you in case you deem it terrible. This music means so much to me. You're just a terrible snob." She said, with equal parts teasing and seriousness in her voice.

"Okay. Show me your favourite musician." Loki said. "And I promise to judge them fairly."

"I can just feel that your fingers are crossed." Vivienne muttered as she went for the search bar, even though he sounded honest. Loki didn't comment. Before long she brought up the familiar song titles of Florence and the Machine, scrolled down until she found Shake It Out, and clicked play.

Vivienne resolved to sit very still as the music played, trying to measure Loki's reaction behind her, but she found herself getting lost in the music she hadn't heard in so long. As the music built she quickly felt herself move to tears, and about halfway through the song she found herself turning it off, embarrassed by the tears running down her face. Loki's face went blank; unsure how he should react to her emotional state.

"I'm sorry." She sobbed, wiping her face on her hands and not daring to look up at him, "It's just been a while since I h-heard this stuff, you'know?" She sobbed harder at that and curled in on herself, hands coming up to cover her face as she tried to regain her composure, cursing herself for losing it so suddenly. She was supposed to be behaving less emotionally, goddamnit!

She hadn't realised Loki had moved until cool hands came to pull her hands away from in front of her face. He was crouched in front of her; his pale, composed face looking up into her slightly blotchy red one. He offered her a small, encouraging smile from his thin lips.

"It's understandable to be emotional, regarding your separation from Earth." His voice was measured, but it was soothing in tone. It was obvious he was trying to calm her down but she couldn't measure how he really felt about her breakdown

"Thank you." She said, trying to smile back, but ended up just sniffing to stop her nose from running. "Oh god that's embarrassing." She said and Loki laughed. He stood and pulled her upright as well, arms gentle on her wrists.

"Come on, you should freshen up." He said and gestured to the door to her bedroom, leaving her to move through to the bathroom.

Once Vivienne had blown her nose and splashed her face with water to cool it down she moved back out of her room. It took her a long time in the bathroom to swallow her embarrassment and move outside again. She had broken down in front of Frigga before, Thor a couple of times, but never so suddenly, and certainly not for a long time. Emotional outbursts were becoming less common as she learnt to deal with the Asgardians, who did not appreciate them. And breaking down in front of Loki seemed different, part of her despised the idea of looking weak in front of him, with the way that he saw through her so easily. She realised in that moment that he'd probably realised just how attached she was to him as well, and just shook her head at the mess she seemed to have made.

Loki was nowhere in sight in the living room, but the sound of music prompted her to move to the balcony. She found Loki sat in the chair she has previously occupied, listening through Shake it Out and the songs that followed. Loki turned when she approached, turning the music off.

"You know, I think I do like it," he smiled, acting as if she hadn't broken down at all; "There is something very honest about her voice. It's earthy… and emotional."

Vivienne gave a small smile. "That's what I love about her as well. That and the way the music builds. And the fact they are great songs to belt out when no one is around."

Loki gave a small laugh as Vivienne dragged the other chair over and sat by him, more calmly than when she'd been rushing around excitedly before. "I should like to hear you sing." He said, and he seemed sincere.

"Shame, because my singing is terrible." She replied, and it wasn't a lie. Vivienne was not known for her vocal talents. "Though I'm likely to be singing lots now I have my music back." Loki raised an eyebrow in amusement. Then they fell into a comfortable silence.

After a few moments Vivienne turned to look at Loki, his sharp face soon moving to meet her gaze. "Thank you." She said honestly. "I feel this is more than I deserve from you." She was playing with her wrist in her lap, and Loki could read the discomfort at the admittance in her stance and her voice.

"Oh no, it's my pleasure. I feel bad for having hurt you." Loki replied with a textbook voice of apology, and Vivienne couldn't tell if he was serious or not. He paused for a moment, before deciding that in this case, honesty was probably the most believable reply. "I feel I've grown rather attached to you, I like being able to put a smile on your face." The words came out uncomfortably, as he was unaccustomed to speaking so truthfully. Even so, Vivienne smiled at that, realising that from Loki that was a huge admittance, and moreso a huge compliment.


	7. One Hundred and Twenty

Two evenings before the party Thor came over to show Vivienne a selection of alcoholic beverages common on Asgard. Vivienne wasn't fooled; though it was presented as an opportunity to pick drinks for the party she knew it was just an excuse for an evening of drinking and relaxing. It was still thoroughly welcome, Vivienne hadn't tried any alcohol since living here and the idea of relaxing with a few drinks was pleasant.

Thor arrived a little earlier than expected and walked in as she and Loki were still sat finishing their latest lesson. He met the sight of various books and papers sprawled over the coffee table and Loki sitting up on the far sofa, a book in one hand and a green flame sitting in the palm of the other which was held absent-mindedly out to the side. He was reclined back and his attention was on the book, completely ignoring the appearance of his brother.

"Loki's been teaching me about control of fire today." Vivienne said, and Thor noted the pride in her voice and the smile on her face. He was surprised to see her so happy and even more surprised by the sight of Loki so relaxed. Upbeat music drifted in from the balcony that sounded foreign to him, but he saw Vivienne humming along to it as she sat down at one end of the other sofa and gestured for him to join her.

"Oh has he?" Thor replied, as Loki leisurely shut the book and gestured the flame away. He then looked up at Thor.

"Vivienne informs me you're an hour early." He said politely, his voice devoid of emotion. Vivienne frowned at the two gods, noticing the swift change in demeanour from the relaxed Loki that had been in the room before the Thor had knocked.

"I finished my duties early, that is all." Thor replied pleasantly, "I am sorry if I interrupted your lesson. You are free to continue and I shall wait until you are done."

"Nah, let's call it a day." Vivienne said from the floor as she tried to disperse the mounting tension. "All I had left was notes to write anyway. We were talking more than working." She shuffled the books and papers on the table into a pile. "Sit down, make yourself comfortable!" she said to Thor as she carried them off into her office. In her absence Loki stood to leave.

Thor frowned at him. "Leaving so soon brother?"

"The lesson is over." Loki said simply, again his voice was devoid of any emotion.

"You do not have to leave, you are welcome to join us." Thor said, though he was aware of Loki's reluctance to spend time with him.

"Yeah stay and have a drink." Vivienne said as she came back in to the room, her face cheerful. "Come on grumpy, socialise a little!"

"Socialising? With a mortal like you?" Loki said, his lips curling into a smirk as he turned to her. "Now why would I ever do that?"

"Because otherwise all you'd do is sit in your room polishing skulls. Or whatever else it is you do." Vivienne replied sarcastically, her smile far broader. She sat down on the sofa and gestured for Loki to follow. Thor was surprised by how openly she teased him, considering it was only a few weeks since their argument. He had expected her to be a lot more cautious, and for Loki to be a lot colder towards her. He was even more surprised when Loki, after a moment's hesitation, sat down next to her to answer her request. He reclined back as she sat forwards to look at the box that Thor had arrived with.

"So, what've you brought us then?" she asked eagerly. Thor looked at Loki then leaned into the box and pulled out various bottles, talking Vivienne through them. She followed his words and asked questions in the right places. When finished he pulled out three glasses and poured out samples from the first bottle.

Vivienne grabbed one and handed it back to Loki. He took it graciously with a murmured "Thank you" and then continued to sit back silently, occasionally sipping his drink. Vivienne started hers as well, still talking to Thor, and soon conversation turned away from the bottles on the table.

"I used to drink on occasion at home. I had friends that drank a lot more regularly than me, but I only like to drink on social occasions and I didn't have many of those." Vivienne said absent-mindedly, with a slightly sad tone at the end.

Loki gave a huff. "Painting a sob story are we?"

Thor was unhappy with how openly he seemed to attack her phrasing, but she laughed at him and just replied "You know I didn't mean it like that", before turning back to the table. Thor saw Loki smile at Vivienne's back and he realised that these little insults must be a regular occurrence. He found it strange to see Loki look at her this fondly, it was a reminder Thor of a Loki that he'd not seen in a long time and he was happy to see it again. He remembered Vivienne talking a while back about how she felt pampered here and wanted someone to challenge her sometimes. Well from Thor's observations Loki certainly seemed to be providing that, both in lessons and in conversation.

"But yeah," Vivienne continued, "I do like an occasional drink. And I enjoy getting a little drunk, I'm not usually one for full out drunken escapades. I can stay sensible."

Thor boomed out a laugh. "On Earth maybe, but I have drunk your alcohol. The drinks here are a lot stronger. I would watch your consumption this evening if I were you."

"Oh I do like a challenge." She replied after a moment before she then downed the rest of her glass in one.

Loki laughed at Thor. "She can be as stubborn as you about a challenge. I don't think you know what you've started."

Vivienne just replied with a "Yep" and opened the next bottle, confirming its name and pouring herself a small measure. The two gods followed her lead, though their measures were double hers, tasting the second before moving on once more. Conversation flowed well, mostly between Vivienne and Thor but with some input from Loki, usually when Vivienne addressed him directly. She couldn't help but notice his reluctance to talk directly to Thor, or for Thor to address him in turn. But she knew well enough by now not to ask delicate questions about why and so turned back to the drinks. By the end of her third glass Vivienne was starting to feel a little tipsy, and by the end of her fifth she was conscious of her words slurring a little.

"Damn, this stuff _is_ strong." She said.

"I knew Midgardian bodies are weak but I did not expect you to be this drunk already." Loki said, but he had been drinking larger measures than her and Vivienne had noticed that he was being very slow and deliberate about his actions, as if he did not want to give away his own tipsy state.

Thor had noticed as well. "Brother you seem to be feeling the influence as well, are you not? You have always been a light drinker."

Loki paused. "I have been compared to most Aesir yes. And it has been a while since I drank alcohol of any kind. I am afraid I have lost what little resistance I had built to it."

"Well I'm just glad I'm not alone in getting drunk then." Vivienne said as she moved onto drink number six, making sure to pour out a much more generous share for each of the gods than herself. "And as I said, I didn't get many occasions to drink. There's no point drinking unless you have good people to drink with."

"I'll take the compliment." Loki said.

"Well as I'm here to stay now, it would be good to find some drinking buddies."

"Thor is a far more suitable candidate for that." Loki said. "I've never been anyone's choice for drinking buddy, I'd usually much prefer to avoid drunken stupidity and go read instead."

"Well you're my first choice." Vivienne declared. After the words had left her mouth she became aware of how obvious they probably were and mentally chastised herself. "And I don't really enjoy drunken escapades either, unless I'm the one doing them."

"I think we can all appreciate that." Loki said. He turned to Thor. "You'd know all about drunken escapades, wouldn't you though?" he said with a wicked smirk.

Thor looked mildly embarrassed. "I did have a tendency to get carried away when drinking in the past yes, but those days are over."

He tried to sound final, but Loki wasn't having it. He tapped Vivienne on the shoulder so she turned to him and said "Shall I tell you about the time we persuaded Thor into a wedding dress?"

Vivienne looked across at Thor and laughed again with a "Really?" Thor dropped his head into his hands as confirmation enough and Vivienne turned back to Loki as he began speaking.

Thor took his head out of his hands to watch Loki tell the story to Vivienne. It wasn't as embarrassing to hear as it used to be, not now that it had been told a thousand times over. Thor soon got over his chagrin and instead became fascinated watching Loki speak. His brother had always been brilliant at weaving a narrative and as he spoke Vivienne was completely entranced by his words. Thor observed how she shuffled her whole body to face towards him, laughing at the right moments and taking occasional sips of her drink.

He was even more interested by Loki himself, who seemed to have let go of the cold demeanour he usually held now around his adopted brother. Whether it was the storytelling or the alcohol Thor could not tell. Loki's face lit up as he spoke to this attentive girl in a way that Thor hadn't seen in years, since before his disaster of a coronation, and his heart ached to see it. And despite his initial scepticism Thor could see it now: his mother had been right, Vivienne was good for Loki. The Thunder God hadn't thought her able to but the clumsy human girl had been able to bring out a side in Loki he hadn't seen in a long time.

By the time Loki had finished his story Vivienne had moved onto her seventh glass and was definitely past drunk. Thor was too far away to be able to intervene but he gestured to Loki. Loki moved forwards and took Vivienne's hands in his own, taking the glass out of them and putting it on the table with a smile and an "Enough now."

Vivienne frowned somewhat at being told to stop but neither Thor nor Loki missed how she blinked at the contact between her and Loki's hands; nor the blush that consequentially crept up her cheeks. To Thor it was like a slap in the face, the sudden realisation that Vivienne thought about his brother _that_ way. Loki himself seemed completely unsurprised, and Thor realised he must have known for a while.

"You're no fun." Vivienne slurred after a moment. "I revoke- I mean remove, is that the word? I remove your title as official drinking buddy."

"Well then I guess you'll have to find new company to drink with." Loki replied, clearly amused.

Vivienne slouched back on the sofa. "All I ever do here is "find new company"." She said. "You know you guys and Sif and Frigga are still the only people who really don't treat me like I'm inferior. Well. Loki does but he doesn't count." Loki laughed at her from the other end of the sofa and she clumsily nudged him with her foot and told him to shush.

"I'm sure you'll find good company in the end." Thor said. "But be patient, the Aesir do not know much about humanity. It will take time for attitudes to change."

"Yeah but "time" for you could be my lifetime. I sometimes feel like I'll never find many good friends. Let alone like, boyfriends or whatever. Oh god." She stared at the wall with sudden realisation on her face. "Relationships are a whole other thing. Like, what Asgardian would want to date me? I'd just die on them."

Loki laughed at her from the other end of the sofa. She looked at him.

"No but I'm serious! You guys live so long I could pledge my life to someone and to them it'd be little more than a fling."

"I am sure you will find romance someday-" Thor began, but Loki cut him off.

"She had a point Thor." He said. "It's a legitimate concern."

"Exactly!" Vivienne slurred. "Oh god. I'll never get married. I never really wanted kids but I'm kinda sad it's not even a possibility. I'm going to die a virgin."

She only realised what she'd said after she'd said it and felt very embarrassed. Thor look mildly embarrassed for her but Loki just threw his head back and laughed loudly. It was more uninhibited than any action Vivienne had seen from him so far, so honest, with a slightly manic tinge to it. It made her smile as well.

"I'm sure you could find some way to lose that." Loki said when he had calmed down. "If you really care there will be someone willing to bed you if you look hard enough."

"Yeah but even then it'll mean nothing to them. I always had girly visions of having someone special or- wait why I am talking about this. No. Anyway." She looked at the two gods. "What about you guys? You wanna get married, have kids? Are either of you actually seeing someone?" she questioned.

"Alas, I am not seeing anyone romantically." Thor said. "There was a girl, on Earth actually, but it was not meant to be."

"Yeah, see exactly! Human." Vivienne said.

"But," Thor continued, "I do hope to wed someday. It's expected of me as king one day to wed and sire heirs to the throne. But I do not feel that pressured, as I have always wanted a family."

"If he doesn't produce any heirs I'm technically next in line for the throne." Loki said. "Though given my recent uh, adventures, I'm sure in the event of Thor's sudden death they'd find a cousin to give it to."

"And what about you?" Vivienne asked. "You got anyone special?"

Loki laughed at her. "Who would want to date a war criminal adopted from another race?" Thor frowned at him and so did Vivienne, but she spoke first.

"Wait what do you mean adopted?" she asked.

The smile fell from Loki's face and he cursed himself for drinking this much and letting the statement slip. He took a sip of his drink and thought over his words before replying. "I'm not truly as Aesir. I am magically disguised to look like one, so well that I myself didn't realise until a relatively short while ago, but I was born on Jotunheim."

"Oh." Vivienne said quietly, her frown remaining. "Wait, but what does that make you actually then?"

Loki shot a look at Thor, who was sat very still watching, before turning back to her. "I'm a Jotun, commonly referred to as a "Frost Giant." It's not a desirable race to be."

"Wait, isn't that the place they were going to exile you to when you hit me?" She continued.

"Yes," Loki replied, his face and body language becoming more and more withdrawn. "But I do not wish to discuss it further."

Vivienne looked at him for a moment, questions still visibly brimming beneath the surface, but after a moment she gave up and slumped back, holding them in. Thor looked between the two of them and searched for a way to change the subject.

"Alas, I hope both of you can find love someday." he said.

"Oh I've found someone to love, they'll just never love me back." Vivienne slurred, without thinking and sounding defeated. She didn't seem to realise what she'd let slip, as she sat looking down into her lap. Thor looked across at Loki, who was watching Vivienne intently.

"If you never approach the people you have feelings for you'll never find any of their feelings towards you." he said casually, before looking over at Thor. There were too many mixed emotions in his face for Thor to pick apart, but the Thunder God got the overriding message, which said _"Let me handle this."_ Thor hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to trust Loki with Vivienne's feelings, but given how good she seemed to be for Loki in the end he gave a small nod.

"Telling someone I like them won't make them love me." Vivienne said quietly, the defeat and slightly bitterness still evident in her voice.

"No, but if you aren't honest about your feelings they might not even consider you romantically."

"Romance." Vivienne snorted. "Romance is boring." She started humming to herself.

Thor looked across at Loki, his words as full of meaning as Loki's previous ones. "Maybe you should follow your own advice and be more honest about your own feelings."

"That would be unwise." Loki said back, his voice also loaded with emotion. "I have seen enough of the universe to doubt that I will ever find love, or that anyone else will for that matter." his gaze flickered to Vivienne briefly. Thor saw but she wasn't looking.

"Unlikely, but here's hoping." Vivienne said, reaching for her glass again and completely missing the double meanings in the gods' words. "A toast to finding love! Or at least getting laid." she said, before downing what was left of her glass. Only when she'd finished did Thor realise she'd just used Loki's words as an excuse to drink more. Loki was watching her, a smirk appearing again in the corner of his mouth.

"Woah." she said as she tried to put the glass back on the table and missed. It fell the short distance to the floor, but it was empty and didn't smash. Vivienne tried to stand to pick it up, but stumbled with the motion. Loki sat forwards and took one of her hands in his own and placed his other hand round her waist to steady her.

"I think you need to go to bed." he said quietly, amusement and fondness in his voice. Thor nodded in agreement from across the table. "I think it is time for me to leave now as well."

Vivienne let out a pout but didn't voice her protest. Loki stood and placed his glass and hers from the floor onto the table. He wasn't wobbling visibly but his movements were slow and deliberate. Thor was reminded of when Loki played the sober friend in the past when he and the warriors three had been out drinking.

With a gesture Loki magicked the remaining bottles and the glasses back into the box. He looked up at Thor.

"If you're alright to remove these, I'll put her to bed." he said swiftly, moving to guide Vivienne round to her room before Thor had time to protest. Vivienne wobbled a little when walking, but gave Thor a cheery enough "Bye Thor!" before taking Loki's arm. Thor picked up the box and stood, feeling the pleasant buzz of alcohol in his system but not feeling impaired by it at all. He watched Loki guide Vivienne through the door into her room, her hanging off his arm to keep herself upright, before turning to the door and leaving himself.

Inside Vivienne's room Vivienne herself giggled as she stumbled to sit on the bed. She felt a little embarrassed and felt the flush rise in her cheeks as Loki slowly knelt in front of her and started unlacing her shoes.

"You know I could do that myself right?" she slurred, but he just smirked up at her.

"Oh I believe that completely," he started, sarcasm evident in his voice, "but let me."

She sat silently as pulled her shoes off, watching his hands. When he finished he stood and smiled down at her.

"Would you like me to fetch some nightclothes for you?" he asked politely. Vivienne was mildly confused by now nice he was being, but couldn't think straight enough past the alcohol to work out why.

"Um, no, it's okay. I'll sleep in this, change later. I don't usually wear anything in bed anyway." she paused. "Wait no I didn't mean to say that."

Loki laughed but pulled the covers back and allowed her to climb in. When he finished he turned to leave but Vivienne called out on impulse.

"Wait! Stay." she said. "I don't want you to go."

"I need to go to sleep myself." The trickster replied, amusement in his voice.

"Sleep here then." she said, gesturing to the remainder of her huge bed. For a long moment he didn't react. "Or you know, you don't have to-" she began after the silence, but she fell silent in surprise when he walked back towards the bed, moving round to sit on the other side.

"Thank you. I like being with you." she said quietly, watching as he unlaced his boots and, after undoing several buckles, shrugged his coat off.

"That looks complicated." she said, and he smiled again. "And you look small without it." she frowned, looking him up and down now he was reduced to a green under shirt and trousers.

"Small?" he questioned, as he carefully lifted the bed covers and slipped in beside her. There was still a reasonable distance between them as he lay down on his side, facing her.

"Yeah." she said eloquently. He snorted with amusement but gave her a slightly drunk and slightly affectionate smile.

"Goodnight Vivienne."

"Goodnight Loki." she replied, and closed her eyes. She was asleep almost immediately.


	8. One Hundred and Twenty One

_She was walking through the crowded streets, talking with her best friend. They'd been planning a trip to London for a long time and she was brimming with excitement about finally being there, amongst the throngs of people. They meandered through the crowd making their way up a busy pedestrian street, planning which shops they were going to visit and what trains they'd need to get. As they walked in a matter of minutes the blue sky clouded over, thunder rumbling in the distance. She turned to her friend and frowned._

_There was a bright, sudden flash of light and the sky seemed to momentarily split open, temporarily blinding everyone. When it cleared there was a crater in the middle of the street and in it stood a blond man in armour and a red cape, holding a rather fancy hammer aloft. He was stood in a defensive position and was menacingly staring down his opponent. Opposite him was a vaguely humanoid creature with grey skin, dressed in black with it's hands glowing a soft orange, looking equally as intense. It was frightening._

_As they moved to fight the people scattered around started to scream. Most ran away, but a few were frozen in shock and disbelief. Vivienne was one of them. Her friend tugged on her arm and begged her to run but they both fell silent with shock as the grey creature sent a bright orange fireball into the nearest building. Rubble tumbled down and Vivienne stumbled away from it but towards the fight, pulling her friend with her. They then jumped in shock as they turned to see the blond man in the red cape stumbling backwards towards them, away from the grey creature._

_Vivienne tried to turn and run but another orange blast hit the building in front of her, driving her back towards the man with the cape and away from her friend, who stumbled out away from the fight. The man in the cape was simultaneously trying to drive the few people still scattered round to safety and defend himself from the creature and he looked to be failing. Vivienne was trapped between the collapsing building and the fight, but saw a large section of fallen wall nearby and tried to go and hide behind it._

_However as she started to move the grey creature looked up and right at her, sending terror straight through her, and sent a fireball her way. Before she could blink the man in the cape had grabbed her arm and was pushing her behind him to safety. She felt pain in her left side as the fire rushed past, and then the same blinding white light appeared again as before._

_Vivienne's was blinded and could only hear white noise, panic flooded her system. In that split second she was vaguely aware of the man with the red cape's hand still gripping her arm, and then everything went black._

When she burst awake with a shout it took Vivienne several seconds to register her surroundings through the terror clouding her vision. It was very dark and she was still lying in her bed in Asgard, but there was someone else there too. After a moment she realised it was Loki with his hand on her shoulder, mouth close to her ear, murmuring reassurances and trying to get her to calm down.

Her head was still spinning and her heart thumping when he pulled away to look her in the eye. She tried to take a deep breath and say "Nightmare", but choked on the word and ended up bursting into tears. She sat up and wrapped her arms around her legs, burying her head behind her knees and away from view, closing in on herself. She became aware then that she was shaking and of the headache building behind her temples, and it made her cry harder as she closed in on herself even more.

She let out a rather embarrassing noise of surprise when Loki's arm wrapped round her and pulled her across to him. Though he was gentle he was still incredibly strong as he pulled her body and she soon found herself crying into his shoulder, his arm still wrapped round her waist to hold her close.

"I'm no stranger to nightmares." he said quietly into her ear, and she let out a shuddery sob. She was incredibly conscious of getting tears and snot onto his shirt as she tried to regain her composure and calm down. It took a long time for her to stop shaking but after she did he continued to silently hold her, brushing his hand lightly up and down her waist in a soothing motion.

She felt surprisingly reassured by his touch and eventually did calm down, becoming aware of the fact she must have woken him up with her nightmare and feeling embarrassment about breaking down in front of him for a second time. When the embarrassment became too much to bear Vivienne pulled away to sit up again. Loki's arm relaxed and he let her. She wiped her face with her hands and mumbled about going to freshen up, not looking him in the eye as she got up and on wobbling legs stumbled to the bathroom.

In the bathroom she turned on the light and moved to the mirror. She splashed cold water onto her red and blotchy face to calm it down and brushed her teeth, taking away the lingering taste of alcohol still on her breath. She relieved herself and combed through her hair before moving back to the door and into her bedroom.

It was still dark in the room. After a moment her eyes adjusted and she saw Loki sat up in her bed, reclined back against the headboard. She saw now what she hadn't before, how his shirt had become rumpled from being slept on and how his hair was equally dishevelled from sleep. He looked a far more relaxed individual than she was used to, and there was something incredibly personal about seeing him so off guard. That and the fact he was in her bed, which was pretty personal in itself.

"Better?" he asked softly as she walked back over to the bed.

"Yes." she said, "And thank you." the words had sounded awkward in her head, but came out relatively sincere.

"It's no problem." he said as she returned to the bed next to him, and for once there was no sense of mischief in his voice, he seemed sincere about comforting her. "As I said, I am no stranger to nightmares myself. May I ask what you dreamed about?"

"The day I arrived here." Vivienne replied after a pause. "The fighting and the terror and the confusion and oh." she felt the tears welling up again, but closed her eyes to try and breathe deeply to shake it off.

When she opened them again Loki was inviting her to curl up to him again. It took her by surprise and she stared for a second but she accepted, curling up into his side. Against the lingering threat of more tears she tried to focus on him to take her mind off the nightmare. The warmth that was radiating from his body, the strong feel of his arms around her and just how nice he smelled. She couldn't place what the smell was but it was nice, and more importantly at this point it felt reassuring. She felt her body relaxing as she lie there, but her mind wasn't shutting down.

"I don't think I'll be able to go back to sleep." she said after a while. "Not after that."

"It's okay." Loki reassured her, "I have slept enough anyway."

"We've only been asleep a couple of hours!" she said. "It's only just starting to lighten up outside."

"That's as much sleep as I need." Loki said, a smug smile appearing on his face.

"Fucking gods." she murmured, and he laughed a little. "I know if I get up now I'll feel terrible later. I've got to sleep off this hangover."

"Gods don't get hangover's either." he said to her, voice even more smug and playful, and she cursed at him again and poked him in the side. It didn't hurt and he just looked vaguely amused. "Where hurts?" he asked her after a moment.

"I have a god-awful headache. Apart from that I just feel generally tired and achy."

Loki moved his hand up to curl round her forehead. She winced at the contact initially, but he softly asked her to close her eyes and she did so. She saw the familiar green glow of his magic through her eyelids and then the pain was extinguished from her head, like cold water over a burn.

"I can't do anything about the ache I'm afraid." he said to her as she opened her eyes. "That will wear off with time."

"You're being awfully nice to me." she pointed out. Loki didn't respond verbally, but his hand returned to her waist and hugged her a little tighter to himself. Vivienne decided to take it as a positive sign. "Thank you anyway." she said, and wrapped her arms around his torso in a hug. They sat there for a few moments in the darkness, listening to each other's breaths and feeling the gentle rise and fall of each other's chests.

When the light started to grow through the gap in the curtains, Loki moved slightly and Vivienne took her cue to pull away. He climbed off the bed and stood up and stretched; his midriff appearing as he stretched his arms up. Vivienne found herself staring at the exposed pale skin through the dark room. He didn't seem aware, or at least if he was he was ignoring her eyes. He then turned to her.

"If you get dressed, we can go for a walk."

She nodded and climbed off the bed, walking to her wardrobe to pull out something fresh. She chose a pretty, short dress that fell to mid-thigh and a pair of leggings that she'd acquired from Sif. As she walked into the bathroom to change she saw him pick up his leathers from where they'd been slung over a chair the night before. Once she'd dressed and moved back out into her bedroom again he was stood fully dressed, hair magically slicked back. He was stood straight and tall and looked again like his usual composed self, the intimacy from the few moments before dispelled somewhat.

They walked in comfortable silence out of her rooms and out of the royal section of the palace in the pre-dawn gloom. The corridors were deserted at the early hour and it was peaceful. Vivienne let her mind go blank and enjoyed the moment as she and Loki walked down and out to a balcony, overlooking the east of the city.

Vivienne was about to question why they'd stopped when she saw the colours over in the distant sky. As they stood side by side the sun started to rise, and once it spilled over the horizon the sky became a beautiful and delicate pale blue. Vivienne suddenly became acutely aware of the romance of the moment and tried not to visibly freeze up as she felt the urge to take Loki's hand, or hug him, or... something. She realised he must have known about the sunrise to bring her here and wondered, was this deliberate? And if so, why was Loki suddenly bringing her to romantic places? She was sure he had no interest in her.

"How much do you remember from last night?" Loki asked softly, cutting off her trail of thought. He was stood beside her staring out into the sky.

"Um, I hadn't really tried to remember." Vivienne said truthfully. As she spoke she cast her mind back to the night before and did try to remember, the talks about frost giants and the story of Thor in the wedding dress and... oh god.

"Oh god." she said aloud, and buried her face in her hands. She must have let him know. It was obvious now, she realised she had told him how she felt. Her face burned with shame behind her hands.

Vivienne heard a soft chuckle from where the god stood beside her. "So you remember what you said then."

"I'm sorry." she said automatically, but he looked at her quizzically.

"Why would you be sorry?" he asked. For a moment he seemed offended, but she replied quickly.

"Oh I don't know," she splurged, then thought about it. "It must be embarrassing. I'm _human_."

"Oh the contrary," Loki replied lightly, "It's a pleasant feeling to realise someone has an emotional connection to you. Whether you return it or not. There is no need to feel embarrassed."

She finally built up the courage to take her hands away from her face, but still didn't look at him, watching the sun rise instead. She tried to wrap her head round Loki's reaction, how nice he had been to her this morning, how overly concerned and protective he'd seemed.

"You're being awfully nice about this. I keep expecting you to crack some humiliating joke." She couldn't tell how he felt about her but finding out about her feelings certainly hadn't caused Loki to react negatively to her at all. In fact she was a little suspicious of just how caring and kind of affectionate he was being.

"Well I was inclined to mention that I'm a god and therefore maybe you just can't help yourself, but I am capable of being nice sometimes."

She heard the smirk in his voice and finally turned to look at him. When he returned her gaze he was indeed smirking, but there was softness to it. Despite her wariness she was warmed by the affection in his smile.

"Thank you." she said, and he laughed.

"You keep saying that to me." he mused, amusement still in his voice. "One day I'm going to call you up on all of the thanks you owe me."

"I don't mind." she said, but he laughed.

"Never say that to a trickster Vivienne." he told her. They both laughed and fell into another comfortable silence watching the sky, the awkwardness dispelled.

Vivienne mulled over his words and questioned just how wise it was to trust Loki considering what she did know of his past. Her collarbone was evidence enough that he wasn't entirely stable. She didn't know how reasonable it was to condemn him for his past actions considering his apparent reform; he did seem to be mostly trustworthy from what she'd seen on a daily basis. Should she put so much trust and faith into a guy who'd tried to take over the world? Who had undoubtedly killed hundreds? But he had also travelled between planets to make it up to her and had gone out of his way to please, comfort and heal her. And despite his shrewd character, at this point he actually seemed to care about her.

In the end it was considering Frigga's faith in the time they spent together that persuaded Vivienne to decide to trust him. The queen always seemed pleased when she discussed the time spent with her son. She seemed convinced that Vivienne was good for Loki. Vivienne only hoped it was true.

Once the sun was well and truly risen Loki invited her to breakfast, and they both walked to the kitchens to see what they could find this early. They picked up some fruit and fresh pastries and went to sit out on the balcony to eat them. Conversation was easy and light-hearted between them as they sat and ate, as it was when they would talk during lessons. They didn't discuss anything particularly important, mostly Vivienne mulled over her plans for her party one last time.

Eventually the palace started to come to life around them and Loki stood to leave. "My mother is expecting me shortly," he explained, "I said I'd see her this morning."

"Okay," Vivienne said as she too stood to leave, "We still on for our lesson later?"

"Yes." Loki said with a smile. "If you're up for it. I won't go easy on you if you're tired."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Vivienne said with a grin, fully planning on going back up to her room for a couple more hours sleep so she'd be more alert later.

"I'll see you later then." Loki replied cheerfully, and confidently pulled Vivienne into a hug, before parting and walking away, leaving her a little bewildered. Vivienne called "Goodbye Loki" after him and tried to suppress the grin that spread over her face as she turned to walk back to her rooms.


	9. One Hundred and Twenty One part Two

Frigga was waiting when Loki arrived to meet her. They were in an informal chamber off Asgard's main throne room, panelled in rich shades of gold with two grand and delicate armchairs. Loki didn't bother to let the decor intimidate him, he'd grown up in Asgard and was unaffected by pompous surroundings. Frigga was stood tall and statuesque looking out of the window when he entered the room, and as he closed the door behind himself she turned to look at him.

"Sit down Loki." she said. Her voice was soft, but her tone immediately told Loki he was in trouble for something, though he did not realise what for immediately. He was usually in trouble for something so did not act surprised.

After he moved to his seat Frigga slowly sat down at faced him. Her movements and expression were regal and powerful as ever; at times like this Loki was reminded she was the Queen. She looked at him, face powerful and stern, though there was definitely a motherly concern present as well. "Loki I need you to be honest."

Loki blinked at her, suddenly aware of the questions coming next. "Of course." he replied, keeping his face relaxed and composed. He reached for the cup nearest to him on the table between them and took a sip, trying to look as if he didn't know the question coming next. He didn't recognise the taste of the warm, fruity drink.

"And please answer me plainly, Loki I know how good you are at twisting your words." The words were slightly exasperated, but sounded just as commanding as before.

Anger flared up in Loki's stomach. He was painfully aware that nothing he said in reply to that would be believed, his mother had already verbally backed him into a corner. He simply shot her an unimpressed look and nodded. He would not dare to have done so so openly before his fall, but now he didn't care about niceties.

Frigga looked unimpressed with his attitude but didn't comment. Instead she started her line of questioning.

"Thor informs me the two of you spend the evening with Vivienne last night." she paused, and Loki stayed silent, inviting her to continue. "He reports that generally you and her seem to be getting on quite well." Again she stopped, and again he stayed silent, inviting her to get to the point. "He expresses his concern however over your relationship, and informs me that you put her to bed but did not leave her room." She looked away from him after she finished speaking, slowly taking a sip of her own drink.

And there it was. The crux of the issue. The disbelief that he was able to spend time with an innocent without corrupting them. Loki kept calm as he responded, despite the bitterness his supposed family's distrust left inside. He plastered a large, fake smile onto his face and looked at his mother's face. She still sat regally on her chair, the light from the window shining through her hair and making it so blonde it almost glowed. The Queen's face was unimpressed and waiting for his answer.

"And what of it?" he asked plainly.

Frigga turned to look at him, the blank mask sliding off her face much quicker than he'd been expecting it to. He thought he'd have to wear her down far more than this. She suddenly seemed angry and concerned.

"Loki she's still a child by her own world's standards! Both me and Thor believe that she has been good for you but you also have to be good for her. She is obviously smitten with you. Do not hurt or manipulate or corrupt her!"

"I have not hurt her." Loki replied plainly, still masking his anger, "Aside from our one previous incident. What does hurt however is your and Thor's assumption that I will automatically abuse any emotional power I have over her." Frigga narrowed her eyes at him but Loki continued, though his voice never became audibly angry. "Let me guess, our dearest Thunder God was sceptical but accepting of mine and Vivienne's relationship until I failed to emerge from her rooms, at which point he grew angry and came to you with the belief I was obviously taking advantage of her? Thor is the last person to trust me these days, he has clearly demonstrated that he is unable to see me as anything other than inherently evil. Whether he believes it or not I am able to be trustworthy."

"His reaction was not that severe, though he is wary. You claim to be trustworthy but your actions indicate otherwise." Frigga said sharply, her expression remaining blank.

"If you are referring to my past actions then I have half a mind to walk out of this room right now." Loki had to stop and take a breath, letting the anger dissipate from his voice. He took another drink and then continued. "I can hardly be expected to rehabilitate myself if you do not trust me to do so. Or do I have to remind you of basic psychology? If I disregard that and assume you mean my staying with her last night then I must dictate that _you_ have assumed too much."

"Well why _did_ you stay in her room?"

"Because she asked me to." He said with a satisfied smile, taking another sip from his drink. It smelt almost stronger than it tasted. "I am well aware of how young she is, I helped her to bed and she asked me to stay with her."

Frigga tried to keep her face blank as she listened to him but disbelief was evident in her expression at times and Loki found it infuriating. She asked plainly. "It hurts me to ask this of you, but did you touch her?"

Loki snorted out a huff of amusement. "Honestly? Yes. But not sexually despite your or Thor's assumptions. I comforted her in the early hour of the morning when she woke from a nightmare. We slept next to each other, with no contact, and went for a walk this morning. As a matter of fact I have just parted from her, as this morning we took a walk and went for an early breakfast."

Frigga's face still seemed concerned and disbelieving so Loki continued, deliberately softening his voice and expression. He might as well try playing the sympathy card.

"I have no intention of hurting her, mother." He hoped that the use of the term "mother" would soften her cold demeanour. It did not work, and the questions did not stop. Frigga's voice sounded angry and concerned again.

"Well your actions give us no indication of your intentions. You have taken on the role of her teacher, but also her friend. She has obviously developed deep feelings for you and you have not pushed her away, but instead led her on by doing as she wishes. You have shown kindness and openness towards her that I have not seen from you in a long time. You even went to Midgard to bring her a present! And yet Thor reports you often insult and degrade her as a supposed joke-"

"And she insults me back on a similar level, that's just one aspect of friendship Thor in unable to understand." Loki cut in, unable to keep his distaste for his sibling out of his tone.

"So do you count her as a friend then? Or is she your over-privileged pupil? What exactly are your intentions towards her?" Frigga countered.

Loki opened his mouth to reply, but found he didn't have an answer. He had known the question was coming eventually, but still couldn't come up with a response that didn't leave a sour taste in his mouth. He stopped and thought for a moment, well aware of Frigga watching him in his silence, so he kept his face as blank as possible. After several long moment he decided "screw it" and voiced his frustration.

"I don't know!"

Frigga's face fell soft immediately. For the first time there was warmth in her face as she looked at him. Suddenly she ceased to be his Queen and became his mother again.

"I don't know," Loki repeated. He was vaguely aware of being far more open and honest than usual but didn't think too hard on it, "For once in my life I have no scheme or intention. I did at first, I found it very fun to toy with her, but the more time we've spent together the less I've wanted to manipulate her. For the first time in many years I'm simply enjoying someone's company. I like her, and she's so easy to read I have no worries that she's secretly plotting against me. I know the entirety of how she feels about me and for once it's nice to be trusted."

Frigga was smiling by the time he finished speaking. He paused and looked down at his drink. "Is there something in this?" he suddenly demanded, furious that it had taken him so long to realise.

"Yes." Frigga replied plainly, not looking at all sorry.

"You felt it necessary to drug me to question me?" he demanded again.

"Necessary? No. But Thor reported you much more relaxed last night whilst drinking and I wished to see for myself. The fact you've been much more open about your intentions than I had expected is just a bonus."

Loki thought he should probably feel bitter at the distrust, but at this point he'd stopped caring, which was probably partly another effect of the drink. "I'd argue that my openness is far more attributed to the girl you've been interrogating me about than the drugs." he replied lightly.

"She's not here at the moment." Frigga pointed out.

"No, but I have spent the past fourteen or so hours with her." Loki countered. "Admittedly for many of those we were asleep but as you said, maybe she's just good for me."

Frigga narrowed her eyes at his argument but appeared to accept it in the end. She sat quietly, finishing her drink. Loki watched her drink, occasionally glancing round the room and keeping his mouth shut. "So my question now is, what next for you and her?" she asked plainly, the question loaded with meaning.

"Well we have a lesson at 4 this evening." Loki deflected.

"You know what I mean Loki. How do you feel about her?"

Even before today Loki had vowed that he would try to be honest with his adopted mother of all people, but he couldn't find an honest answer here. There was nothing he could say that didn't feel false, aside from "I don't know." His silence was confirmation enough for Frigga, who looked at him with a mother's knowing look in her eyes.

"Oh Loki. Do you honestly feel that strongly about her?"

He didn't bother trying to deny it. Again, the silence was confirmation enough. Loki looked up and his eyes met Frigga's, and she suddenly looked emotional. He tried to keep his own face blank, but he was aware that under the influence of whatever was in that drink his own emotional turmoil was probably evident.

"She is good for you." Frigga said after a pause. "And whatever you decide, you need to be good for her too."

Loki frowned at her. "What are you saying?" He knew his emotional state had been compromised but had to really just been given permission to...?

Frigga paused and took a sip of her own drink before replying. "Just... be gentle with her, and take things slowly."

Loki's eyebrows shot up in surprise, he didn't bother hiding that reaction. "You're remarkably trusting all of a sudden." he said warily.

She looked amused. "And I was deliberately harsh several minutes ago to see what you'd do. You kept your temper and were honest about your feelings." she said as she stood up. Loki felt vaguely annoyed and amused at being outsmarted and didn't reply; but he also stood and his mother approached him, looking up at him with large, soft eyes.

"I'm proud of you for this. And I know you better than you want to believe. Take care of her." she said, before pulling Loki into a hug. He tentatively accepted and then pulled away.

"I was going to wait until late this afternoon, but after that I feel I should go see her now." Loki mused aloud.

"I wouldn't bother." Frigga said, looking amused. "Your brother is currently questioning her about you."

Vivienne had just been getting into bed when Thor had knocked at the door. She hadn't been expecting him but after throwing some clothes on invited him in all the same, and they sat in the living room as they had the night before, with Vivienne curled up where Loki had been.

"I wanted to speak to you about the drinks." he started lightly. "We never discussed which you liked in the end or which ones you want for your party."

Vivienne thought for a moment. "Well I didn't really like the third but apart from that I don't mind really. The rest were quite nice."

"Are those the drinks you want served then?"

"Yeah, sounds good. Variety will be nice."

"Well that was decided quickly." Thor smiled at her. "How are the preparations coming along for the party?"

"Good, I think. The only thing I haven't sorted is the music. Because I'd love to put my music on shuffle but no one else there would recognise any of my songs."

Thor laughed, remembering the music he'd heard while in Vivienne's rooms. "No, they would not."

"So yeah, apart from that I'm sorted." she yawned.

"Feeling tired after last night?" Thor asked politely. Vivienne noted that he was all charm and smiles this morning.

"Yeah a little, but at least it is just tiredness, as opposed to being hungover." she rambled, unable to hide a smile.

"Are you not hungover?" Thor asked.

"Nah, Loki fixed me." he gave her an alarmed look and Vivienne laughed. "He just healed my headache this morning."

"So he stayed in your room last night?" Thor asked, caution evident in his voice.

"Yeah." Thor gave her another concerned look and she laughed again. "No not like that. I asked him to stay. He ended up just crashing next to me. We had breakfast together this morning." she explained. The thunder god still looked dissatisfied with her reply.

"I didn't have sex with him!" she clarified, voice exasperated, and his expression relaxed somewhat. He relaxed back, reclining on the sofa as he had done the previous night.

"You seem unusually close to my brother." he said lightly. It was obvious now the purpose of his visit had been to probe the subject.

Vivienne swallowed her rising embarrassment and turned to him. "I know what I let slip last night Thor. And I wasn't exactly secretive about my feelings beforehand." she took a deep breath and looked away from him, out of the window. She really didn't want to have to have this conversation with Thor of all people.

"So you do have feelings for him?" Thor asked with all the tact of a blunt axe. Or perhaps a hammer.

She nodded.

"What is it you see in him?" he continued.

"I don't know really. I mean, he's hot," she saw Thor raise an eyebrow but continued, "and he's clever. And I do have a thing for intelligence. And he doesn't treat me like an idiot, as we said last night very few people do that here." she fell silent as she thought about it. Thor's silence invited her to continue. "And I don't quite... get him. You know? There's something kind of mysterious about him, and he's always five steps ahead of me and my thoughts. And it's challenging and I like that."

"I can see you've thought about this a lot." Thor said diplomatically.

Vivienne laughed. "I don't have many friends here yet, I have a lot of time to spend thinking about each."

"Still, I would encourage you to be careful with Loki. He's not the most trustworthy of people. He can be... manipulative." There was a small frown on Thor's face as he spoke, and he seemed sad to have to say it.

"I think you've forgotten that I already know he has a shady past. I got thrown against a wall for confronting him about it. But he is supposed to be in rehabilitation or whatever and he does seem to be increasingly kind to me, so I'm giving him that chance. As well as the fact I just like spending time with him. As I just said, I think about my friends a lot, and I like him for who he is, or at least what I've seen of who he is." Vivienne's confident speech was met with a moment of silence.

"And what do you think of me then?" Thor said with a smile, changing the subject to something a bit lighter.

"That I don't fancy you but you should totally get over yourself and get with Sif." she replied back to him sharply, a wicked grin on her face. The thunder god gave her an amused look but he didn't protest and she counted that as a victory.

"Well maybe you should be honest about your feelings for Loki." he countered after a moment.

"I was, this morning actually." she replied with a note of triumph, though with the amusement gone from her voice. "And I asked him why he was being so nice about it."

"And what did he say to that?" Thor asked, interested.

"He replied that it was very flattering and similar bullshit before cracking a joke and moving on." She sighed, a fond smile on her face. "I had expected relentless teasing from him but he always surprises me."

"I think Loki lives to defy expectation." Thor countered. Vivienne smiled at that and they fell silent, deep in thought, both thinking about Loki.

After a moment Thor spoke, his voice hesitant. "Have you tried asking Loki about his intentions or feelings towards yourself?"

Vivienne took a moment herself before replying. "No. I'm not stupid enough to put myself through that humiliation."

"What humiliation?"

"Oh you know what. I know he doesn't have any feelings for me. Although..." she thought back to the sunrise, and the comfort after her nightmare, and how tender he'd seemed in the darkness, "I think he does genuinely like me. You know, as a friend." Once she'd let the words out Vivienne became wary of how much of this she should be sharing. Loki had made it pretty clear he wasn't a fan of people chattering away about him behind his back.

"He's more fond of you than I've seen him of anyone in a long time." Thor said softly. She turned her head sharply to look at him.

"Really?" the disbelief was evident in her voice and on her tired face.

"Yes. Loki is withdrawn at the best of times. To see him develop an emotional attachment to anyone is strange. Nice, but strange." Well, Vivienne might be giving too much of her own thoughts and feelings away, but Thor seemed willing to share too.

"You can't tell me he's never had a friend ever." she replied, disbelieving.

"Oh he's had lovers and friends in the past. But we're talking several hundred years ago. He's been more open and honest with you than he has been with anyone in at least a hundred years."

Vivienne's mouth dropped open. She couldn't think of a reply. After a moment she just sat back with a "Wow."

"Yes, exactly." Thor said. "So please do not be surprised if people, myself and Frigga especially, are interested in your relationship, however it may develop. Whatever you become, you've certainly been very good for Loki already. Just be careful.

"I'll uh, try." she frowned, falling silent. After a moment Thor changed the subject again.

"So, would you like to meet myself and Sif for lunch?" he asked cheerfully.

"Yeah alright," Vivienne agreed, ditching the nap and deciding that she'd deal with the teasing from Loki later when she was inevitably too tired to concentrate, "As long as I'm back before four."

"That's fine." Thor replied, another smile on his face. He seemed reassured somehow after asking Vivienne about Loki, and as she went to change into something more decent she thought she felt more reassured about her choices too.


	10. One Hundred and Twenty Two

By the time the party rolled round on Friday evening Vivienne was completely exhausted. She'd spent the few days beforehand solidly preparing and hadn't gotten much sleep from worrying and fretting over details; hoping that everything would go well. Loki had teased her in their lesson the night before about how tense she'd been but it was true. This was the first thing she'd organised in Asgard and she wanted to have done a good job as hostess.

Standing at the richly curtained door she put on her biggest smile and greeted her guests as they came in. The room she was using was a short walk from the private royal quarters, mostly used as a large dining/entertainment room. It wasn't a large party, there were only fourteen people invited, but it had felt huge to organise. First Sif arrived, then the Warriors three. They were all very complimentary, aside from Hogun who was grim as usual. Vivienne took the small smile he offered her as a very good sign. Some of the Asgardians who had helped her design her room came next, as well as some other people Sif had introduced her too. They hadn't spent too much time together but Vivienne liked those she'd invited. These Asgardians still had moments of acting condescending towards her but were friendly enough and asked the right questions, they had good intentions.

After a while Thor turned up with Frigga, apologising repeatedly for being late even though he was only late by a few minutes. Then the only person missing was Loki. Vivienne shook her head and smiled fondly, thinking about his insistence on being awkward, before turning to talk to people and get everyone drinks. As she made her way round people were generally polite and very complimentary of her arrangements. If there was one thing the Asgardians were good at, it was socialising. Conversation was easy and the compliments were frequent, they asked her about details and kept her mind off worrying.

Once she felt she'd done those hostess duties well enough Vivienne went and sat with Sif and Fandral, who had settled in a very ornate cushioned area in one corner. She felt a little more comfortable with Sif than some of the others.

"This is wonderful." Sif commented, gesturing around the room, "Though I don't recognise the music playing."

"I wouldn't expect you too." Vivienne replied with a smile. "But it's some of my favourites." In the end she'd decided to go with Florence and the Machine and various other songs that could be considered folk music, deciding it would be least scarring to the Asgardians. She'd had doubts about their potential reaction to modern music anyway, but even more so after seeing Loki's reaction to dubstep.

"Well I'm glad you're enjoying it." Fandral said with his typical charming smile. "And the music is quite enjoyable at times I must admit." he turned to her and the smile widened. "You're looking delightful this evening."

"Thanks" Vivienne replied, looking down at her deep green dress. At first she'd been self-conscious about wearing something so bold but after a while decided _fuck it_ and went with it anyway. She liked it, and the silver shoes she'd been given looked wonderful with it too.

"That is a lovely colour." Sif replied, though there was something hollow about the compliment.

"It's a shame you don't feel the same when I'm wearing it." came Loki's voice from behind them, the smirk audible in his silky voice. Sif's lips pursed, but Vivienne's face lit up with a smile.

"You made it!" she replied, standing and turning around to see him. Sif and Fandral rose behind her as well.

"Evidently yes." Loki replied, voice teasing but smooth, "While we're on the subject, did you intentionally dress so we'd match?"

Vivienne realised then with burning embarrassment that he was right, and that her dress was the same shade as the one he always wore, which may or may not be why she'd liked it so much. She tried to brush it off despite feeling the colour rising in her cheeks.

"No, I just like the colour. And just because you wear it all the time doesn't mean you own it." she argued back with her best smile.

"No, but be aware round here it is widely associated with me." he leaned in a little closer to her, mischief glinting in his eye. "People might get the wrong idea."

She blushed again; and Sif tried to come to her rescue.

"Leave the poor girl alone." she said, with a fixed smile. "You have to admit she looks good in it."

Loki's eyes swept up and down Vivienne's body shamelessly. "Stunning, yes." he replied, his voice suddenly sounding totally sincere, his eyes still glinting. He made no secret of the fact he was trying to unnerve her or that he was enjoying himself doing it. _Little shit_, thought Vivienne.

"Uh, I'm going to go get a drink." Vivienne announced, turning away so they wouldn't see her cheeks slowly getting redder. She dashed and indeed grabbed herself a drink, deciding she'd need the alcohol if Loki was going to be like this all evening.

Frigga came and joined her after a moment, gesturing that she come join Thor and talk with him. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sif giving sharp words to Loki, while Fandral left them to go and flirt with one of the designers.

Thor soon caught her full attention and they talked pleasantly about life on Asgard, discussing the extension planned for the great library with one of the designers, who turned out to be the architect. Soon after that food arrived and Vivienne busied herself making sure everyone was seated and served. Loki smirked at her and she gave him a shy smile in return as she passed some food to him, but they didn't communicate past that. She sat between Frigga and Thor to eat and time passed quickly as everyone drank her alcohol of choice and became increasingly good-natured.

After most of the eating had finished people split off to sit around the room talking, the atmosphere becoming more relaxed. Vivienne couldn't help but notice Loki had stayed silent during most of dinner, occasionally talking to Frigga, and was now sat on his own in the corner, looking utterly relaxed and surveying his surroundings with a drink in hand. Vivienne put off joining him for as long as possible, working her way round every other person in the room to socialise, but in the end grabbed another drink to give herself courage and wandered over. She couldn't leave him there alone all night.

"Having a good time?" she asked as she went to sit with him. He grinned.

"Mostly. But I can think of a few ways to make it better." He winked, fully aware of where his comments were leading Vivienne's imagination.

Vivienne blushed furiously again and internally cursed Loki. He had been perfectly sincere with her for weeks (minus the odd snarky comment), and yet now they were around others he was looking for new ways to embarrass her. She took a deep breath and continued.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yes." he sat up and put one arm loosely around her waist, leaning in and pointing across the room with his other hand, the one with the drink in it. He spoke in a low but very amused voice. "Fandral over there is intent on catching that black haired girl, and he seems to like her," he started, "But she's married. I'm very tempted to make her ring magically fall out of it's location in her pocket and see his reaction."

"Why does she have her wedding ring in her pocket?" Vivienne asked, quite pleased she'd managed to spot a flaw in Loki's comment past the amount of alcohol in her system.

"She slipped it off when Fandral first started flirting." he replied. "I'm sure Fandral would still sleep with a married woman, but maybe not one who tried to deceive him outright. And those standing round them would certainly object." he gestured to another woman entering the room. "Because that's her wife."

"Oh." Vivienne said, having completely missed the fact two of her guests were married.

Loki chuckled next to her. "I would do it, but until I am deemed recovered they would find a way to link the event back to me." he sighed. "They are ever suspicious."

"Well... you did just plan it out." Vivienne stated. Loki just continued to look at her with an amused expression. Vivienne frowned slightly. "Sif seemed to be having strong words with you earlier on."

"Ah." Loki paused. "She disagrees with our... relationship."

Vivienne's eyebrows raised but her silence invited him to elaborate.

"She thinks you are too close to me and that I cannot possibly have a good influence on you."

"Stuff that," Vivienne replied without thinking and without realising how much the alcohol was going to her head, "Who gives a damn who I spend my time with? It's my decision. I want to be with you." Loki smiled, and Vivienne suddenly realised her choice of words.

"I mean, I just mean that I don't-" she started in a panicked voice, but Loki shushed her.

"I know what you meant." he replied, and relief spread through her chest. "But... I'm also well aware your other unintended meaning is true as well." Vivienne's stomach lurched with nerves at having heard it said aloud, and she resisted the sudden urge to punch Loki's perfect smirking face.

"You're an asshole." she settled for saying instead, and he laughed loudly.

"And yet you still want me," Loki stated. It was the most blunt comment he'd made on the subject so far, and Vivienne's couldn't think of a reply. She just looked out into the room and closed her eyes as the burning blush of embarrassment spread across her cheeks. Loki didn't say anything further, for which she was incredibly grateful.

With her eyes closed she also missed the fond way he looked at her.

After a moment his hand readjusted itself round her waist, her eyes opened and they sat watching the room as Fandral finally convinced the designer to dance with him. Though the music was strange to them the Asgardians still looked elegant and statuesque as they casually moved to the music, and after a while a few other joined in a well.

Loki noticed quickly how Vivienne leaned forwards and followed the movements with her eyes. She was humming along to the music ever so slightly as well, and her finger was tapping in time with the beat. It was obvious she wanted to join in.

"If you want to dance, go and dance." he assured her.

She blushed again as she turned to him. "No."

He gave her a look, and she elaborated. "You're all so elegant, and I'm clumsy by Earth standards." Loki could hear the disappointment in her voice.

"Who cares what they think?" he countered. "They know you are human, dancing won't make any difference."

"I know, I just..." she huffed out a breath. "It just makes me super conscious of how different I am."

Loki stayed silent for a moment, before wrapping his hand tighter round her waist and pulling the two of them to stand in one swift movement. Vivienne wobbled slightly as she came to her feet but she didn't have time to be surprised. "Come on. We're dancing." he said firmly.

"What?" she said, then a smile spread across her face. "You? Dancing?"

"I can dance." Loki said with a smug smile, pulling her into the centre of the room with the other dancers and taking one of her hands in his own. He started swaying in time with the music, not too obviously, but suddenly his whole body just seemed to move with rhythm. Vivienne lost herself for a moment staring with disbelief, before his hand pulled her into moving too, and she slowly started moving to the music.

She looked around and became hyper-conscious of the fact all eyes were on her. _Well no_, she thought, all eyes were on Loki, and the fact he seemed to be joining in with the celebrations. The Asgardians were just occasionally glancing at her. Part of Vivienne felt like she should be defending Loki on some level from the venom and disdain in the glares pointed his way, and so she pointedly joined him in ignoring the others and focusing on the music, even singing along at times once she'd relaxed into the movement. Turns out she wasn't as terrible as she'd feared she might be.

Loki noticed her forced enthusiasm and started moving more confidently, pulling her into it so she had to focus on her movement instead of her surroundings. Luckily, the song changed and something much more upbeat came on, which even the Asgardians recognised was designed for dancing. Vivienne's face split into a grin.

"I love this song!" she exclaimed, before singing loudly, hoping the volume of the music would mask her awful voice. Before long, though she seemed to resist doing so, Loki felt that she was singing at him.

"_It's hard to learn and it's hard to love, when you're giving me such sweet nothing_!" she sang along, and though Loki knew the lyrics told true he felt moved in ways he hadn't expected. He responded by spinning her round and pulling her close, shutting out the disapproving looks from around the room and wrapping his arms around her in a brief hug before spinning her away again.

Vivienne seemed to realise the action was in response to her words and sang along harder to the lines that were relevant. She felt very smug doing so, desperately shutting out the fact that it must be embarrassingly obvious to onlookers. "_So I'll put my faith in something unknown._" she sang loudly, and Loki pulled her in again. She was focusing on the words now, and her movements were coming much more fluently. He took advantage and danced more enthusiastically, pulling her along at a faster pace as well. After a moment she giggled, and spun into his next hold, hugging him back before spinning out again.

After a particularly long note he set her spinning faster than she'd anticipated. She managed to keep it up until the end of the note, before falling into him a little, he held her as she stumbled and set her up again to continue dancing. But as she'd fallen she'd looked at him, and he felt himself smile at her, because there was a measure of truth in the lyrics neither of them would admit to otherwise.

They danced through to the end of the song and through several more, before people started drifting off and Vivienne had to go play hostess and say goodnight. Loki watched her as she moved, smiling at people and giving the most polite goodbyes she could despite the alcohol in her system. One by one everyone started to leave. Loki stayed behind, lurking in the corner. Eventually the only other person left was Frigga.

"Did you have a good evening?" she asked Vivienne as she came to say goodbye.

"Yeah, it was great." Vivienne smiled. "Thank you for coming."

"That's alright child. Are you okay to get home on your own?" Frigga asked, but Loki stood up and walked over.

"I'll escort her home." He said to Frigga, and Vivienne noticed the meaningful look that passed between them but couldn't decipher what it meant. She told herself that one day she'd be able to master the subtleties of Asgardian conversation.

"Okay" Frigga said plainly, before leaning in and kissing Vivienne lightly on the forehead. "Happy birthday Vivienne, and take care of her Loki." The Queen swept out of the room and left to two of them alone.

Vivienne looked around. "I'm going to have to tidy this up." she said, with a grim face.

Loki looked at her with a grin. "Mortals." he said, and his eyes glowed with magic. All the items in the room flew up into the air and organised themselves into neat tidy piles, the plates even self cleaning before landing. Vivienne smiled and gave Loki another hug. Now there was no one else in the room he seemed to be far less intent on teasing her, and she felt more relaxed about showing affection.

"Thank you" she said, and Loki wrapped his hand around her waist and led her out of the room, ambling towards their bedrooms. Vivienne walked slowly, clearly tipsy and humming along to songs in her head. She felt relaxed in Loki's presence, and she kept throwing smiles in his direction. She was so easy for Loki to read, even more so when drunk, and it made him feel extremely happy to know she was genuinely enjoying his company so much. It was a strange but pleasant feeling for people not to be on edge around him.

By the time they arrived back at the split to their rooms Vivienne was rambling about how good the night had been. Loki felt quite protective of her as she stumbled along, and he wrapped his arms around her as they came to a stop.

"Thank you for a wonderful evening." he said to her with a smile, his voice perfectly sincere.

Vivienne was obviously perplexed by the affection and it was clear on her face she was trying to figure out what it could mean. After a moment she looked up at him.

"I wouldn't have enjoyed it so much without you." she tried to speak sincerely and he laughed down at her, his trademark smirk returning.

"Unaware I could dance?" he teased.

"Uh, yeah. Where did that come from?" she questioned, her voice also becoming playful, and he raised one eyebrow.

"I am the God of Mischief. Dancing is just one of many areas covered by the title "Mischief"."

"Oh yeah? Name some others." Vivienne challenged.

He moved closer to her, looking down at her and clearly enjoying himself as one hand came to sit on her waist.

"General trickery," he began, his hand on her waist pulling her against him. "Word games. A good control of displayed emotions," his other hand came up and cupped under Vivienne's chin as she looked up at him, fixing her face in position. "A talented tongue. Sex."

Vivienne's eyes widened comically at the word and the realisation of the position Loki had manoeuvred her into. They were alone, down the corridor leading only to their own bedrooms, and he had her drunk and pressed against him. Mentally she tried to decide what to do, but was aware that because of the alcohol she'd lost what little self-control she'd had over her expression and she couldn't hide her face. She momentarily glanced down at his lips, and he broke into a grin as he followed her thoughts. Her cheeks glowed red with embarrassment but his expression wasn't mocking; just full of, quite appropriately, mischief.

Vivienne went to apologise and pull away but before she could make a sound he surged forwards, his lips meeting hers. They were forceful but not violent, and she was momentarily stunned. After a second though she relaxed and returned the kiss, ignoring the myriad of panicking and confused voices in her head questioning what was going on.

Loki relaxed a little on having the affection returned, and kissed her far more gently. She pressed back softly, before pulling away, her face flushed. She didn't seem to know where to look so Loki pulled her into a hug, wrapping his hands around her waist to pull her in as she took a moment to absorb what had just happened.

"I do enjoy spending time with you." he spoke in a low, husky voice into her ear. "and I would very much like to increase the intimacy of the time I spend with you."

Vivienne's rather turned-on mind jumped at the idea, but found it difficult to think. Her head was spinning, emotionally and from drink, and she felt like she'd been pushed into a spotlight. The best reply she could come up with was "Um, yeah."

Loki pulled away and smiled gently and reassuringly at her. It was yet another change of emotional direction to confuse her. "I'll let you think on it." he assured her, and relief flooded through Vivienne's system that she'd have time to digest this new change of direction sober. He stepped back to stand square in front of her and bowed, taking her hand.

"For now, I will bid you goodnight." The God of Mischief said with his most charming and disarming smile, kissing the back of her hand as he bowed. He moved to pull away, but Vivienne couldn't resist a little more. She stepped in and briefly pulled him down into another kiss, more passionately than she had before. He returned it equally as enthusiastically, before she broke away and turned towards her door.

"Goodnight Loki!" she called as she rushed toward her room, cheerful on the adrenaline rush this whole situation was giving her.

"Goodnight Vivienne." she heard him say behind her. His voice was low and had a note of triumph, and her last though before she closed the door behind her was that it was incredibly goddamn sexy.


End file.
